Tangled Web II
by Andromeda Silver
Summary: It’s September 1987. After working for Stockwell for a year, Stockwell finally issues the A Team full pardons. Or is he playing mind games with the team? Lola returns with a few surprises.
1. Surprises

Extended summary: It's September 1987. After working for Stockwell for a year, Stockwell finally issues the A-Team full pardons. Or is he playing mind games with the team? Lola Sanchez returns with information that Stockwell isn't who he says he is, tells the A-Team that the pardons are fakes, and has a few surprises for them. Set about fifteen months (a year and three months) after "Tangled Web".

Author's notes: 

1) Sambodia is my own making, along with Lola and another character who's obvious. The A-Team and other related characters are property of Stephen J. Cannell and whoever else owns the rights. I'm not making any money off of this, just avoiding homework at all costs.

2) I hate Frankie even more than I hate BA. BA once in awhile can actually have a good line while Frankie is just an annoying, greasy creep who got added to the cast for no good reason for the fifth and final season. Personally Frankie and Stockwell ruined the last season, though "Family Reunion," "Without Reservations," and "The Say Uncle Affair" were good ("Uncle" only because Dwight Schultz did a primo job of Frank Sinatra's work and Stockwell got his ass kicked).

Anyway, returning readers, I hope you enjoy this sequel as much as you did "Tangled Web", the first one. I don't know how I managed to get this done with the end of the semester drawing so near, but I did. I was thinking I wouldn't get this done until about May or June. Hopefully you appreciate the work that went into this if anything.

Ok, enough of that. Don't forget to review! Thank you! :~) 

****

Hannibal Smith burst in the door to Stockwell's private jet, Empress One, almost knocking the hatch off its hinges. Carla the secretary jumped in her seat at her desk as the door slammed into the wall of the plane. The colonel's electric blue eyes burned with anger when he growled, "Where is he? Where's that slime ball boss of yours?"

Carla stuttered for the first time in the year Hannibal had known her, "He—uh—Stockwell—the general's busy and can't see you right now, Colonel Smith."

"I don't care if he's in conference with the President of the United States," Hannibal snarled, "I demand to see Stockwell NOW! I know he's here so don't you dare tell me different."

Hannibal eyed the door to Stockwell's office and grinned evilly. "I'll just let myself in, Carla," he said amiably. "No need for you to get up." The colonel strode over to the general's office door and kicked it down with one swift, solid kick before Carla could protest.

"STOCKWELL!" Hannibal bellowed even though the general sat six feet away at his desk. Carla tried to pull the colonel out of the office by grabbing his arm, but Hannibal easily shook her off.

"What seems to be the trouble, Smith?" Stockwell asked as if such an outburst was a common occurrence.

Hannibal planted himself firmly in front of the general's desk and glared at him with his ice blue eyes. "You almost cost me the life of one of my men on one of your damned missions!" growled the colonel. "It seems you conveniently left out a part about the leader of a terrorist group looking exactly like Murdock. When the villagers in the town caught sight of him, they fired on him in a desperate attempt to get rid of their tormentor. Luckily, the villagers were poor shots, but a bullet grazed Murdock so now he's being held in the hospital for observation. If that bullet had been just a little more to the left, he would be dead right now. You keep pulling junk like this lately, and each time someone comes inches from death! This isn't the first time you've left out vital intelligence, but I'm making it the last. I've talked to the rest of the team, and we're leaving! We'd rather face being hunted again by the government rather than having you toy with our lives anymore."

Stockwell barely smiled. "I'm afraid you can't quit, Smith."

"Give me one good reason why not, you slime-sucking rat," growled Hannibal.

The general ignored the colonel's comment and handed him several official-looking forms. "Because I'm finishing up the paperwork for your presidential pardons," Stockwell replied coolly. "You and your men can start packing your things and get ready to head back to whatever you deem normal lives whenever you want. I won't be assigning you any more missions."

Hannibal looked from Stockwell to the papers in his hand and back again several times before he murmured, "What?"

"You heard what I said, Smith," continued the general. "You and your team have completed every mission I've given you to my satisfaction, so I'm putting in a good word for all of you. Soon you'll all be free men again."

"What's the catch, Stockwell?" drawled the colonel. "You can't just be doing this out of the goodness of your heart, if these papers are even genuine. What do you get out of this?"

"I get you out of my hands and the resulting peace and quiet," Stockwell replied. "There is a limit to how many times I'll clean up your team's messes, Colonel."

Hannibal jabbed the papers in his hand like a weapon at Stockwell's face. "I'd tell you exactly how much I loathe you right now, but unfortunately I have to hold my tongue if I want to take these pardons and investigate them through my own sources," the colonel whispered threateningly. "I'm taking these. I'm sure you have them in triplicate, just like all other pencil-pushing desk jockeys who don't have the first clue about field maneuvers."

The colonel drew himself up to his full height and glared icily at Stockwell before he marched out of the office and off the jet.

****

BA, Face, and Frankie lounged on the couch back at the "safe house" Stockwell used to keep the team under his thumb watching some college football game. No one cared who was playing, only that the three of them were finally motionless. Face leaned his head over the back of the couch as if the small movement drained all energy from his body. "I can't believe how botched that last assignment was!" he moaned. "We fly halfway around the world only to get shot at by the people we're supposed to be helping!"

"At least you didn't get shot like Murdock," BA replied.

Frankie twitched his head, a nod Face guessed, in agreement. "Yeah, poor guy. Almost didn't make it home with him laid up like that. When's he coming home?"

"Doc said tomorrow if he seems to be OK," answered Face.

BA snorted, "The VA might say he's sane, but there ain't no way his head's OK."

Face, BA, and Frankie turned toward the front door when they heard it open and slam shut. Hannibal appeared in the doorway to the living room with a fist full of papers, an expression of confusion, anger, and possibly a trace of happiness mixed together on his face.

"Hannibal, what is it?" Face asked, perplexed.

Frankie looked at the papers Hannibal held in his hand. "Yeah, Johnny, what's that you got?"

The colonel took a deep breath and answered, "If Stockwell's telling the truth, and from the look of these papers I'd say he is, we're finally getting pardoned."

For what felt like an eternity, the three men on the couch sat in silence, absorbing this new information. From reading their identical expressions, Hannibal surmised that Face, Frankie, and BA were thinking the same thing: Pardoned fifteen years after the Bank of Hanoi fiasco and one helluva long year working for Stockwell? It doesn't seem possible!

Finally Face spoke. "Pardoned?" he asked incredulously. "You mean as in the presidential kind?"

"The whole enchilada?" Frankie added.

"No more workin' for that jerk Stockwell?" interjected BA.

"Yes to all of the above," Hannibal answered as he handed the other three the papers he "borrowed" from Stockwell. "See for yourselves. I think that these are legit, and we've had plenty of experience in faked documents."

The lieutenant shuffled through the forms, inspecting them closely. "I'd say that these forms are the real thing, Hannibal." He grinned broadly. "Looks like we're finally going to be leaving this—upscale jail behind us!"

"So when do we get to go to the White House and meet the President?" asked Frankie, grinning as well.

"More importantly, when to we get to leave here?" Face interjected.

"Believe it or not, Stockwell said that we can leave any time we want to," answered Hannibal. "While we wait for the paperwork to go through, he's not assigning us any more missions, of course, and wants us outta here as much as we want to leave."

At this news, Face, Frankie, and BA all leaped off the sofa, Frankie whooping with delight. Face grinned so broadly Hannibal thought that any moment he'd join Frankie in yelling and jumping for joy. BA, on the other hand, looked about as happy as a grizzly bear on an average day…just like he always did.

"I'm packing right now!" Frankie exclaimed. "I say we get outta this place tonight!"

Hannibal caught the Puerto Rican's arm before he could dash out of the room. "Not so fast, Frank. You forgot about Murdock in the hospital. We can't leave until he gets checked out."

"That's right," agreed Face. "When Murdock hears about these pardons, those nurses won't be able to keep him in bed!"

Frankie looked between Face and Hannibal. "We can still pack though, right?" he asked.

"Knock yourself out, Frank," replied the colonel. "That way we can swing by the hospital and pick up Murdock as soon as possible."

The four men stood in silence for a full minute, letting the full weight of the situation sink in. Finally Face broke the silence. "Sixteen years on the run," he breathed, "and we're finally free."

"I don't know how you guys did it," said Frankie. "I didn't think I would make it through this past year!"

"With some of the dumb stuff you did, I'm surprised you did," BA retorted.

 "So where do you think you'll go, Hannibal?" Face interjected, trying to keep an argument from spoiling the good mood.

"I was thinking about heading back to LA to check out the acting scene," replied the colonel. "Since I've been gone from Hollywood for more than a year, I'm out of a job as the Aquamaniac. Maybe now with a full presidential pardon, I can do some real acting for a change."

"Don't worry 'bout it, Johnny," Frankie cut in. "If you can't get a job acting, you can help me out with my special effects work once I get back out to LA."

"I like you, Frank, but not so much that I'll work for you," replied Hannibal. "What about you, BA? Where do you want to go now that you're a free man?"

"I was thinkin' about goin' to see my momma, then goin' back out to LA to the daycare center," the sergeant answered. "They always need someone around to take care of the kids. What about you, Faceman?"

"Oh, me?" asked the lieutenant. "I think I'll follow you guys out to LA and check out the Santa Monica area. Find a job out there that suits my talents. Actually, I think I might ask Murdock to room with me. Great opportunities to double date in Santa Monica."

"What about Santa Monica, Faceman?" asked a familiar Texas drawl from the front door.

"Murdock!" Face exclaimed. "What are you doing out of the hospital?"

The pilot looked at his feet sheepishly. "I—uh—released myself," he answered, fingering a bandage on his head. "I know the symptoms of serious head injuries, an' I didn't have any, so I left. Pulled a great scam, too! Even you'd be proud of how good I did, Face."

Hannibal grinned as he lit a celebratory cigar. "Looks like the gang's all here. Now you can go pack, Frank. I think we'll be out of this state tonight after all."

Murdock looked around at his friends, confused and at a loss for what had transpired between the time they'd dropped him off at the hospital and now. "What's goin' on?" he asked. "Did that turkey Stockwell assign us another mission?"

The pilot couldn't believe it was possible, but Hannibal's grin doubled in size. "Actually, we're going home, Captain," the colonel replied with a twinkle in his electric blue eyes. "Stockwell's putting through the paperwork on our pardons and told us to get the hell outta here. We're only too happy to oblige, of course."

Murdock's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "You're kidding!"

"No, he's not," Face answered, smiling. "We're all leaving here tonight for LA and home. Speaking of which, I was thinking that the two of us could get a bachelor pad together out by Santa Monica."

Murdock howled in joy and grabbed Face in a bear hug. It had been a long time since anyone on the team heard the pilot howl like that. "Of course, Faceman! Y'know I've missed havin' a roomie since I got released from the VA. This'll be great!"

The pilot whooped again and tried to embrace BA as well, but the sergeant growled. "Oh, c'mon, BA!" whined Murdock. "Sixteen years after the Bank of Hanoi job an' we're all finally regular citizens again. I say that calls for a celebration!"

"I don't care," BA grumbled. "I'm gonna hafta fly to Chicago to see my momma, an' I don't need your crazy fool antics when I hafta fly."

Hannibal stepped in between Murdock and BA before the confrontation could escalate. "BA, you don't have to fly. You can drive the van out to Chicago and then LA. Sure, it'll take longer, but since when do you care about that?" 

"I don't hafta fly? I don't hafta fly!" BA exclaimed and grabbed Murdock up in a bear hug that should've crushed the pilot. "That _does_ call for a celebration!"

The colonel managed to separate the sergeant and the captain and continued, "Now that everyone knows the good news, I say we pack up and head out."

Murdock, Face, BA, and Frankie all agreed in various ways ranging in volume. _It's been a long time since any of them have been this happy_, thought Hannibal as he watched his men dash off to pack up their things.

****

A week later, Face and Murdock pulled up in Face's Corvette in front of a stylish beach house on the outskirts of Santa Monica.

"You're right, Faceman," Murdock said as he vaulted over the passenger side door and gave the house a once-over, "she is a beauty! How'd you manage to scam a place like this? With a great back porch to boot!"

"I didn't scam it," replied Face as he hopped out of the driver seat. "I got this place perfectly legal. No fake names, no house-sitting deals…"

The pilot shot his friend an incredulous look as if monkeys would fly before he'd believe Face had gotten anything by walking the straight and narrow. "You're pullin' my chain. How did you get this place really?"

"I swear I'm telling the truth, Murdock!" exclaimed the lieutenant. He pulled out a document from his coat pocket and handed it to his friend. "It's the deed to this place. I managed to make some pretty good investments over the years so I had enough to buy this house."

Murdock scanned the document and handed it back. "I never thought I'd see the day, Face. At least that just goes to prove your system of bookkeeping over the years works."

"C'mon, Murdock, I'll show you around the place," Face said, slinging a friendly arm around the pilot's shoulders and steering him into the house. "Great open floor plan, kitchen, dinette, two bedrooms, bathroom, and my favorite part—sliding glass doors that give a fantastic view of all the lovely female joggers, sunbathers, and swimmers."

Murdock stood in the middle of the living room, the room the front door opened into, and absorbed everything his eyes could see. The whole bungalow was fully furnished with a sofa, coffee table, and two armchairs in the living room. The room blended smoothly into a small table with four chairs, presumably the dinette, which opened up onto the back deck through sliding glass doors. The kitchen was separated from the living room and dinette by a counter and cupboards attached to the ceiling. All the colors in the house were either beige or off-white like all the other places Face ever had.

_This kinda reminds me of that place Face had when Doctor Richter got snatched by those South American mercenaries_, thought Murdock. He suddenly stiffened in recollection of stumbling into Face's beach house, drugged up to the gills, and collapsing on the floor. He still didn't know how in the world he managed to get that far across town in that shape. However, thinking about that incident, he remembered the blonde woman who switched her identity every half hour or less…leading to the half-buried memory of Lola Sanchez.

Face, concerned by his friend's introspective gaze and sudden shudder, laid a supportive hand on his shoulder, waking Murdock from his trance. "Hey, you OK?" Face asked.

"Oh, yeah, sure, Face," replied the pilot. "Just…hard to absorb all that's happened in the past week, that's all."

Face wasn't completely convinced his friend was fine, but he knew better than to pry. "Why don't we go grab our stuff out of the 'Vette and get settled in?"

"Sounds good to me. Race you!" Murdock dodged past his friend and dashed to the Corvette before Face even reached the bottom step. "C'mon, Faceman," the pilot whined, "we don't got all day to wait for you to mosey on over here with the trunk keys!"

Face smiled to see his friend in a better mood and opened the trunk. Both men grabbed the few bags they had and carried them into the house. Face and Murdock played the pilot's version of rock-paper-scissors to decide who got what room, then started to unpack.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. "Murdock, I forgot to tell you," Face called across the hall, "I invited the girls next door over. Identical twins—blonde with legs up to here! Carol and Freda Rivers…Carol's a flight attendant who wants to learn how to fly a Cessna so the two of you should get along great!"

Murdock kept humming some Mozart opera loudly, apparently not hearing his friend. Face smiled to himself as he went to go answer the door as the bell rang again.

Face opened the front door and came face-to-face with a tanned woman with black hair falling just past her shoulders, dressed in a white t-shirt and ratty blue jeans. She was obviously not Carol or Freda. Something seemed oddly familiar about the woman as she looked up at the lieutenant through mirrored sunglasses.

"May I help you?" Face asked tentatively.

The woman smiled oddly, accentuating four claw-like scars on her left cheek. "You don't remember me, do you, Face?" she replied in a familiar low-toned voice. "Then again, it has been more than a year since we last saw each other."

"Lola Sanchez!" Face growled. "How could I forget the woman who hog tied me, threw me in a cell, and held me along with my best friends in a government installation? What are you doing here, stirring up more trouble or did you escape from prison?"

"Neither," answered Lola. "I came because--"

"Who's at the door, Face?" Murdock interrupted as he came bounding to the door. Once he caught sight of the visitor, the pilot paled and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Lola Sanchez!" Murdock exclaimed, contempt dripping from every syllable. "Why the hell are you here? Shouldn't you be serving another ten years or so in a New Mexico penitentiary?" 

Lola bit her lip and took off her sunglasses. "Actually, no, and I owe you guys for that—especially you, Murdock."

"How do you figure that?" Murdock asked as he folded his arms across his chest. _This had better be one hell of an explanation_, he thought.

Lola took a deep breath and answered, "The district attorney failed to prosecute. He said that there wasn't enough substantial evidence to get a conviction with the star witnesses, the A-Team, being court-martialed at the same time. Also, I found out that I was eight weeks pregnant about two months after I was arrested."

Several seconds passed as the information sunk into the minds of the two men. "What do you mean you were pregnant?" asked Murdock quietly.

Lola leaned down to her left, just out of Face and Murdock's line of sight. When she stood up, she held a baby about six months old, dressed in blue coveralls, in her arms. "I mean," Lola said, her voice wavering slightly, "that this is your son, Murdock. Meet Billy, my Chiquito."

The pilot stood rooted in his spot, his mouth opening and closing mechanically for several intense moments. Finally, Murdock whispered, "That baby can't be mine. We used protection, remember?"

"We didn't in the shower," Lola retorted as she settled Billy onto her hip. "Remember we figured that nothing would happen? Well, on March 20th, Billy here was born."

Murdock thought a minute, then said, "Ok, I know how to figure this out. Lola, what's my blood type?"

Lola shifted Billy to her other side. "Ummm…I don't know exactly," she replied, "but I remember that you said that you and BA are the same type."

"Ok, what's the baby's type?" asked the pilot.

"I only remember it because it's so rare," the brunette answered. "Billy's AB negative."

Murdock's heart flipped in his chest. _The baby has my blood type_,he thought. _It could actually be mine! That is, if Lola's telling the truth and her blood type is A, B, or AB negative._ "And what's your type?"

"A negative," answered Lola. "Why?"

Murdock took in a deep breath. "Because I'm AB negative. If you're telling me the truth, that baby could be mine."

"He is yours!" Lola exclaimed. "Stop referring to our baby as 'it' and 'that'! He has a name, for crying out loud!"

"Look!" Murdock hissed. "Maybe your memory's a little rusty, but the last time we saw each other, you lied to me—to the entire team—about everything you are. What makes you think that I might believe anything you say now?"

Lola sighed, "Ok, if you won't believe what I say, then just look at Billy. He has your eyes, along with at least half of your other facial features."

The brunette put her foot on the top step and balanced Billy on her thigh so that Murdock and Face could see the baby's face clearly. With the pudginess associated with babies, it was hard to discern any similarities between Murdock and Billy—except the eyes. The pilot had no doubt that the baby had his bright, chocolate brown eyes.

"Face," Murdock whispered, "do you see what I see?"

The lieutenant finally spoke after his long silence. "It's a baby, so what? I bet you anything she showed up here with someone else's kid to trap you into paying child support, Murdock."

Lola's eyes burned with indignation. "How _dare _you accuse me of doing anything like that!" she spat. "If I learned anything from our first encounter, it was that lying only gives you scars and pain. What I said is the God honest truth. Billy, this baby as you call him, is Murdock's son, and I only came by because I was in the neighborhood, saw the Corvette parked in the driveway, and decided that if Murdock was indeed here, he might like to know that he has a son. I didn't come for child support or anything else like that. End of story!"

Lola turned away and placed Billy back in the stroller that she parked just out of sight of the door. She put her sunglasses back on and said with a quavering voice, "I see that I made yet another mistake. I should've known better, I guess. Sorry for breaking the informal restraining order, gentlemen. I'll be on my way now."

With that, Lola turned and marched down the front walkway, pushing Billy's stroller in front of her.

"Can you believe the nerve she has to show up here and try to feed us that cock and bull story?" Face asked Murdock as he watched Lola retreat down the block. "That's just about the most pathetic con I've ever heard." The lieutenant turned to his friend, wearing an overly confident grin, but his face fell when Murdock glared at him.

"She's right, you know," the pilot muttered. "We didn't use protection in the shower that one morning. I could be the father of her baby, and if I am, I have a responsibility to him. You know that one of my worst fears is that I'll end up like my father, and I'm not about to walk out on my son because his mother betrayed me. Yet you can just dismiss everything as a lie and smile at me like you did me a favor? I'm getting to the bottom of this, and there's no way you're stopping me, Face." With that, Murdock jogged down the steps and down the sidewalk after Lola and Billy.

_I don't want to see you get hurt again, Murdock_, Face thought as he watched his friend catch up to Lola and her stroller. _I know how much you want to believe her, but I've gotta call Hannibal and see what he thinks is up._ The lieutenant retreated inside the house to call up his commanding officer and advisor.

Down the block, Murdock slowed to a walk and called after Lola, "Wait up, Lola, I want to talk to you."

The brunette stopped, but didn't turn to face the pilot. "Why are you chasing after me?" she asked. "You obviously want nothing to do with us. What's left to talk about?"

"Look," replied Murdock, "You just dropped one huge bomb on us back there and we didn't know how to respond. Face was just trying to protect me if you're lying, but he doesn't know or understand everything that happened between you and me."

"So what you're saying is that you're sorry and that you believe me?" Lola huffed.

"No, not exactly. I'm saying that I want to believe you and I'm sorry Face was so blunt, but I don't totally trust you either. But I'm not going to abandon this child if he is indeed mine."

Lola sighed and looked up at Murdock. "Well, it's better than nothing, I guess," she sighed. "You want to take a walk with Billy and me around the block, or will Face get mad?"

"Right now I'm not interested in what Face thinks," replied Murdock as he and Lola walked along together with the stroller. "Tell me about this son of mine. You said you named him Billy?"

Lola smiled. "Yeah, Billy John Sanchez. I had a hard time naming him. I wanted to name him after you, but I knew you hated your first and middle names. So I named him Billy, after your dog. I figured it was the closest I could come to naming him after you. John of course is for Hannibal. I figured you'd want to name your son after your commanding officer and friend."

"I can already sense that this kid's gonna have trauma from being named after an imaginary dog."

Lola stopped dead in her tracks. "I don't remember you ever referring to Billy as being imaginary, Murdock," she whispered. "What happened to you? Was it—was it what I did to you?"

"No, I was released from the VA a little over a year ago," the pilot replied and smiled. "I'm certifiably sane."

"So you've been living on your own for a year?" asked Lola. "I've been so out of touch with any news on you guys, I have no idea what's being going on with the A-Team. What happened? What exactly happened to you and the rest of the team? I heard some crazy rumors about Hannibal, Face, and BA getting caught and executed for murder, then escaping somehow."

"We got pardoned! Well, the guys just got pardoned and I got released from the VA. We had this run-in with this CIA spook who made us work for our freedom for a year, but we finally filled his quota after I almost got my brains sprayed all over Sambodia on the last mission."

 "_Dios mio_, Murdock!" exclaimed the brunette. "What in the heck has been going on with you since I last saw you for you to almost get killed?" 

 "Where do you live anyway?" Murdock asked, changing the subject as he continued walking along next to Lola and the stroller. "Can't be too far if you walk around here."

"Actually I drove here," answered Lola, naturally ignoring Murdock's change of subject since she knew he didn't like to talk about sensitive subjects. "My neighborhood isn't exactly the best place for a single mother to go for a stroll."

"And where is that?"

"South central LA."

Murdock froze midstride. "You live in _Watts_?" he exclaimed.

"It's just outside Watts actually," Lola replied nonchalantly.

The pilot grabbed the brunette by her shoulders to stop her. She looked up into his concerned brown eyes. "You can't raise our son, if this baby is indeed ours, outside Watts," Murdock murmured.

Lola forced a chuckle. "What else am I supposed to do?" she asked. "It's the only place I can afford right now since I'm between jobs. I've got nowhere else to go."

"Don't you have friends who could take you in until you get a new job?"

The brunette hung her head. "I don't have any friends." Tears edged her voice. "You should at least remember that, even with your intermittent memory loss. I haven't heard from any of my 'friends' from that Alliance Tech fiasco since they escaped and Colonel Decker arrested me. I have no friends in my neighborhood either. Only person I've got is my Chiquito, Billy."

Murdock mulled over his response for a long time. Finally, he said, "Look, what you did to me an' the rest of the team a year ago was horrible. But for some reason, I'm willin' to forgive you for what you did to me an' give you a second chance to make things right. I don't want you livin' in South Central with a baby. I'll talk to Face an' see if he'll agree to lettin' you stay with us until you get yourself back on your feet—but only if you promise to never lie again an' tell us everything about that Alliance job, an' I mean _everything_."

"Look," sighed Lola, "it's not that I don't want your help, but I don't want you to make any decisions before you do one simple thing for me."

Murdock asked confusedly, "Like what?"

The brunette leaned down and picked Billy up from the stroller. "Hold your son and tell me if you still want to help him. If you don't after you hold him, I'll be gone forever. If you still want to help, then I promise to answer any questions you or your friends ask me about the Alliance Tech mishap."

"That seems simple enough," the pilot shrugged. He held out his arms and Lola gingerly placed Billy in a comfortable position in them.

Billy gazed up into Murdock's soft brown eyes with his identical miniature ones and smiled. The pilot couldn't help but return the grin since the baby's reminded him so much of his own.

_My God_, Murdock thought as he stared transfixed at the baby in his arms, _this feels so natural, just holding a baby…I thought this would be awkward, but he feels like he belongs in my arms—because he is my son._

"You were absolutely right, Lola," murmured the pilot without looking up. "Billy does have my eyes and my smile."

"So you still want to offer us your help?" asked the brunette.

Murdock finally managed to tear his eyes away from his son. "Are you insane? Of course I still want to help you! Let's go talk to Face. He can't say no to this kid!"

"Ok, if you're sure about it," replied Lola. She held out her arms to take back Billy.

"Do you mind if I carried him back to the house?" Murdock asked, staring at Lola with a mournful, pleading look in his eyes.

Lola smiled broadly. "I was hoping you'd say that. Otherwise I would've known you really didn't want to be around either of us."

"Did I ever tell you that you have a very pessimistic view of people, Lola?" joked Murdock as the three of them turned around and headed back towards the beach house.

"Yeah, that's because I haven't run into many good people like you and your friends," the brunette replied.

Back at the beach house, Face had finished giving Hannibal the news on the unexpected visitor. A long pause on the other end of the line followed Face's speech.

Finally, Hannibal said, "Let me get this straight. Lola Sanchez, the woman we ran into last June and almost fed us to Colonel Decker, is over there right now with a baby she says is Murdock's son? What did Murdock say?"

"He said that it is possible Lola's telling the truth and the kid is his," Face replied. "I've got a bad feeling about this, Colonel. You know Murdock hasn't been the same since…What I'm saying I guess is that I'm not sure he can handle this situation without getting emotionally attached. Who knows what Lola's up to now?"

Face turned toward the front door as he heard it open. Murdock entered, carrying baby Billy, followed by Lola. "Hey, who you talkin' to, Faceman?" asked the pilot.

"Is that Murdock?" asked Hannibal. "Let me talk to him."

Face covered the receiver and handed it to Murdock. "It's Hannibal," he replied. "He wants to talk to you."

The pilot handed Billy back to Lola before answering Face. "You called Hannibal?" Murdock asked in a threateningly low tone. "What, you don't think I can handle this myself so you call Hannibal? He's got better things to do. Besides, this doesn't concern you!"

"Look, Murdock, just talk to him and we'll fight later, Ok?" Face said, exasperated.

"Hey, I'll leave if I'm causing problems," Lola interrupted while rocking Billy. She looked cautiously between the two men as if she expected a fistfight to break out.

"No, you're staying until we sort this out," replied Murdock as he took the phone from Face. "Hi, Colonel," he said into the phone. "What's up?"

"Is there any truth to Lola's story?" asked Hannibal. "This hardly seems like a coincidence that she shows up on your doorstep with a kid just as we get our freedom back."

"She was takin' a walk in the neighborhood an' saw Face's 'Vette," Murdock drawled. "There's no underhanded scheme there."

"So she just happens to live in the neighborhood?" Hannibal asked incredulously.

"Actually, she doesn't," replied the pilot quietly.

"And that didn't send up any red flags? What--"

"Listen! She's living in South Central with Billy. I can't let her raise our child in that place!"

"Billy? 'Our' child? So you believe her story then?"

"Hannibal, you'd believe her too if you saw Billy. He's got my eyes, no doubt about it. He's mine an' I'm takin' responsibility for my actions. Besides, Lola promised she'd answer any questions we ask her about the Alliance Tech fiasco."

"Don't do anything just yet. I'm going to come over there right now and talk to Lola myself. It's not that I don't think that you can handle yourself around her, Murdock, it's that I don't trust her to be honest with you."

The pilot mumbled a reply before Hannibal hung up. Murdock glared at Face as he hung up the phone.

"Where do you get off?" growled the pilot. "I'm not a child! I don't need you or Hannibal or anyone else for that matter to hover over me all the time! You're supposed to be my friend, Face! Friends don't go an' call up someone else to tell them to interfere with a friend's life."

"Murdock, I know how you felt about Lola, but you have to remember what she did to you, to all of us!" Face exclaimed.

"You're wrong!" the pilot shot back. "I do remember what she did all too well. And you have absolutely no clue about how I feel about anything!"

"Murdock--"

"No! Listen for a minute. I think—no, I _know_ Billy is my son, and I'm not about to abandon him just because you think I can't deal with Lola. And now because you seem to think that I can't handle myself, Hannibal's coming over here to talk to Lola himself. Why can't you understand that I'm a perfectly capable adult?"

"Look, Murdock…" Face began as he went to put a friendly hand on the pilot's shoulder.

Murdock glared at Face and slapped his hand away. "I don't need your pity!" he hissed. "Leave me alone!" The pilot shoved Face hard, sending him sprawling into the sofa.

"Stop it! Stop it!" cried Lola, breaking her long silence. Face could only stare in shock at Murdock, his friend who had pushed him away when he tried to help. "The both of you stop it!" Lola cried again, tears stinging her eyes. "You two are best friends! You shouldn't be fighting like this. This is all my fault. I'm going now, forever this time. I should never have come here in the first place."

The brunette turned and ran outside, clutching a now crying Billy tightly to her chest.

Murdock and Face gazed at each other for what felt like ages before the pilot finally spoke. "Face…I—I don't—I mean…"

"It's OK," Face replied and gave his friend a small smile. "Like you said awhile ago, one of the best things about our friendship is that we don't have to waste time tripping over our tongues apologizing."

Murdock smiled and helped Face to his feet. "Now you'd better go get Lola," Face said, "before she disappears again, this time with…your kid."

"Thanks, Faceman," Murdock whispered, and then dashed out the door after Lola and Billy.

****

To be continued…


	2. Bonding

Author's notes: Same as previous chapter, along with my apologies for sap and crap. I think I'm going to up the rating a notch to be on the safe side. Lola has a bad habit of cursing when she gets angry.

Also, the cradle idea actually came from an episode of _MacGyver_. Yeah, I know the A-Team came first, but I can't help liking the guy. After all, he is cute and sarcastic… I'll stop now. On with the story! :~)

****

"Face, Murdock?" Hannibal called as he opened the door to the beach house. Face sat in an armchair, staring blankly at the opposite wall while Murdock sat on the sofa next to Lola, who absorbed herself completely in the baby in her lap. The whole scene felt so surreal to the colonel. His men were totally out of character, and the addition of Lola and her child knocked the situation headlong into the Twilight Zone.

"Oh, hi, Hannibal," Face greeted, waking from his trance. "I didn't hear you knock."

"I didn't," replied the colonel. "I figured you wouldn't mind." He gazed at Lola for a while, but the brunette refused to meet his eyes. "I wish I could say it's a pleasure to see you again, Lola, but you're well aware of what happened a year ago June. What's the story? Why did you happen to be in the neighborhood, even though you don't live anywhere near here, just as Murdock and Face moved in? Most importantly, how did you manage to get out of prison? We heard you got nabbed by Decker when he and his Boy Scouts stormed the place."

Lola finally looked up to meet Hannibal's electric blue eyes. "It's a long story," she murmured. "A very long story."

"I'm all ears," replied Hannibal as he drew a chair in front of the sofa and sat down. "Why don't you start from the beginning, as in how did you escape prison?"

"I didn't escape," sighed Lola. "Like I told Face and Murdock, the DA failed to prosecute. He didn't think he had a strong enough case to send me to prison with the A-Team being the best witnesses. After the lawyers messed around for two months, I was finally released. Those were the worst two months of my life."

"The DA can do that?" asked Hannibal. "No review of the case?"

"Nope," Lola replied. "The DA can prosecute or drop a case depending on whether or not he or she thinks it's worthwhile for the judicial system to go through with a trial or sometimes if they think they can win or not. In my case, a huge drug lord came in behind me so I fell to the back burner. Someone like me wasn't worth the energy, so I got released from jail."

"Just in and out like that?" the colonel asked.

"Well, not in and out," interjected the brunette. She suddenly became absorbed with Billy, who was now sleeping in her arms. "I spent two horrible months in jail," she murmured. "I honestly thought about suicide almost daily until I finally figured out that the reason I was violently ill all the time was because I was pregnant with Billy here. Having a baby turns your life upside down."

"And this baby of yours--"

"Billy, Hannibal," Murdock interrupted. "His name is Billy."

Hannibal shrugged, "Ok, Billy here is Murdock's son. That's what you said, right?"

"Yes, and it's the truth," Lola sighed. "How many times do I have to repeat myself?"

"As many times as it takes us to be convinced you're telling us the truth for a change," retorted Hannibal.

"Hannibal, I believe her," Murdock said. "Just take a look at Billy an' you'll see he's mine."

"No offense, Murdock, but the last time you said you trusted Lola, it turned out that she lied to all of us," replied the colonel.

Suddenly Billy opened his eyes, yawned, and looked around in confusion as to what was going on. Lola shifted Billy into a sitting position and tried to smile reassuringly at her son. "Hey there, sleepy head," she murmured. "Why don't you sit up for a bit?" Billy stuck out his lower lip in a comical expression, causing his mother to chuckle.

"You're so cranky this time in the afternoon!" Lola smiled. Billy smiled now that he saw that his mother was more relaxed.

Murdock had a sudden flash of intuition. "Can I hold Billy again, Lola?" he asked.

"Sure, Murdock," Lola replied, unsure of what the pilot had in mind. She placed Billy in Murdock's arms, and the pilot got up and carried the baby over to Hannibal.

"Just look at him, Hannibal," Murdock murmured as he held Billy in front of the colonel. "He looks just like me with those eyes an' that smile."

Hannibal, in the middle of lighting a cigar, glanced at the baby in Murdock's arms, but quickly did a double take. The unlit cigar fell from the colonel's lips in disbelief. Hannibal looked back and forth between Murdock and Billy's sparkling brown eyes and infectious smiles half a dozen times, trying to absorb what he saw.

"Know what, Colonel?" Murdock said. "Billy's named after you—Billy John Sanchez."

A grin slowly spread across Hannibal's face. "Do you guys remember that rescue mission we did about two or three years ago where we had to bring back a judge's daughter from Italy because the mob wanted him to find one of their friends not guilty? We managed to grab the girl and made it out by posing as passengers and staff on a cruise ship."

"How could I forget that one!" moaned Face, finally breaking his long silence and sounding like himself again. "I had to convince the cruise director to put on a masquerade ball when the gangsters caught up to us so we could move around the ship easier. Why bring it up now, Hannibal?"

The colonel leaned back in his chair and continued, "I'm not sure if you were in the room at the time, Face, but Murdock was complaining about how BA wouldn't lend him a pair of his feathered earrings for the party. If I remember correctly, Murdock, you said you believed BA wouldn't lend you the earrings because he was jealous you'd get a date and that you would have the first male child born on the team."

The pilot gave his commanding officer a confused look. "Yeah, I think I remember that, but what's your point, Colonel?"

"Looks like you did have the first male child and the first child period on the team without the help of BA's earrings," Hannibal smiled, picking up his cigar.

"Does that mean you're finally satisfied that I'm telling the truth and Billy's Murdock's son?" asked Lola.

"Looks that way," Face muttered.

"Good, because I need to get Billy back home," said the brunette. "He'll need to eat and be changed soon, and I doubt you guys have ever taken care of a baby before."

"What? You can't go back to South Central!" exclaimed Murdock.

"Well, all our stuff's in my apartment, and this place is certainly not properly equipped for a baby. I gotta go home."

"Ok, I'll go with ya to get your stuff so you an' Billy can stay here," Murdock replied, then turned to Face and Hannibal. "If that's all right with you guys, of course."

"I was wondering if you were going to ask my permission or not," Face replied. "I doubt that I could change your mind anyway. Sure, I don't mind… much."

"It's up to you, Murdock," said Hannibal. "If you want her to stay here and since Face agreed, go ahead. But Lola, I'm warning you right now: think of this as probation."

Murdock grinned and grabbed Lola's hand. "C'mon, let's get your stuff!" the pilot exclaimed, pulling the brunette out the door with one hand and carrying Billy with the other.

As soon as the front door closed behind the trio, Face turned to Hannibal and said, "I sure hope you know what you're doing, Colonel. This doesn't exactly seem like a good idea in any respect whatsoever. Murdock's already attached to the kid. I hate to think what'll happen to him if it turns out Lola's lying again."

"It's a great plan, Face," replied Hannibal as he puffed on his finally lit cigar. "It's amazing in its simplicity: keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer."

"Isn't that the plan we used on her last time?" Face groaned. "That blew up in our faces!"

"But now we've got the kinks all worked out."

"You're on the jazz again, aren't you? I should know better by now…"

"This time, you run a background check on Lola Sanchez. See if anyone by that name had a baby named Billy John Sanchez in the past five to seven months. Did she tell you when Billy was born?"

"March 20th. "Do you have any idea how many kids are born in this country in a year? This is going to be like searching for a needle in a haystack, even with mother's name, baby's name, and birth date! I've never tried to find out information like this. Never had to. Why now?"

"Oh c'mon, Face! Think of this as a challenge. You haven't had to do work like this since we started working for Stockwell." The colonel took the cigar out of his mouth and pretended to admire it. "Then again, I could always get someone else to do it. They'd probably do a better, faster job than you. Y'know you're not as young as you used to be."

"Ok, that's it!" the lieutenant exclaimed, jumping up from his chair. "I've got a reliable connection in public records who could get me that information in a half hour."

"What's her name?" asked Hannibal.

"Sandra," Face answered as he picked up the phone and dialed.

****

"Hey, Face," said Hannibal when Face hung up the phone, "how's that line on Lola coming?"

"Not as good as I'd hoped," Face replied. "Sandra's checked all the birth records in California for the past year and came up empty handed. She told me she'd expand her search to the whole country and call me back when she's through."

Face sat next to Hannibal at the kitchen table and said, "I'm liking this less and less as time goes on. I'm surprised how fast Lola's gotten control over Murdock with that kid. You saw them go bouncing out of here to go get Lola's stuff like nothing happened last year. The only way I see this ending is with Murdock back in the VA for the rest of his life. You know as well as I do that he hasn't been himself since that incident. He's more serious, more withdrawn—he can't even keep a part time job for more than a month! I can't remember the last time I was this concerned about Murdock. Part of me hopes that Lola's lying so that maybe Murdock will finally get over her…and another part wants to believe Lola and the kid are for real and maybe Murdock can finally have some happiness."

The phone rang, cutting the tension. Face grabbed the receiver and answered. He talked briefly then hung up. "That was Sandra," he explained. "She did find a record of a Billy John Sanchez born to a Lola Sanchez March 20th of this year. But the weird thing is that the place of birth is a hospital in Langley, Virginia. The same one that treated me when I got shot at that Italian restaurant."

Hannibal puffed on his cigar, his eyes focused on something not in the room. "Why would Lola be in Langley?" he asked. "And when and why did she move out to LA? There's obviously more at stake here than Lola's letting on. What's taking her and Murdock so long? I say we grill her on what happened at Alliance now before Murdock becomes any more attached than he already is."

As if on cue, Lola opened the front door carrying Billy in one arm and a suitcase in the other. Murdock followed with a box.

"Hey, guys," Murdock said and smiled. "Sorry we took so long, but we tried to fit Billy's cradle into Lola's station wagon. You shoulda seen it! Lola built it herself outta an old street hockey net, PVC piping, and duct tape. It's supposed to hang from the ceiling, but we thought we could attach rockers from an old rocking chair to it instead. Even though the cradle could easily disassemble, there was no way that sucker was gonna fit!"

Lola set down her suitcase and said, "What's up? You two look awful serious."

"Lola, we have to talk," said Hannibal. "Now."

"Can't it wait, Colonel?" Murdock asked. "We need to get Lola and Billy set up."

"No, we need to talk NOW."

Lola stiffened at the colonel's tone of voice and nodded in mute agreement. She pulled up a chair at the opposite end of the table from Hannibal and Face, and Murdock sat next to her.

"What's up?" Lola repeated.

"We just found out that Lola Sanchez gave birth to a Billy John Sanchez on March 20th in Langley, Virginia," Hannibal said. "Are you the same Lola Sanchez?"

"I see you guys finally decided to do your homework. Yes, Billy was born in Virginia. Why do you care?"

"It seems rather odd that a young mother such as yourself would move cross country within the first six months of her baby's life. More importantly, how and why did you leave New Mexico? And why, after being captured by the army for breaking into a government-funded research installation and by sheer luck getting out of prison, would you head for Langley? With the CIA and other government-run agencies' headquarters being in that area, it seems to me that you'd be heading into the lions' den."

Lola sighed. "Yeah, it would seem like that to you, I guess. After I was lucky enough to escape hard time, I wanted to get as far away from New Mexico as possible. I hadn't been on the east coast in a while and got offered a better job than my current prospects, so I headed out to Virginia. I worked at an office filing and doing 'go fer' work until Billy was born. Soon I remembered why I left the east coast in the first place, quit my job, and began looking for somewhere else to go. I hoarded some money away, but there was no way it would support Billy and me for very long. I thought that if the A-Team ever got pardoned, you'd end up out here in LA again, so I came out here with the hope that I would find Murdock and tell him about his son."

"While we're at it, what's your social?" asked Face.

"Wanna check my record, doncha? Sure, and while you're at it, you might as well check Billy's too. Here, take my wallet," Lola said as she sat Billy on the table so she could get her wallet out of the back pocket of her jeans. She tossed it across the table to Face. "Check everything in there. I'm sure you know a fake ID when you see one. Y'know, we probably wouldn't be here right now if you'd gone through my purse when we first met. You guys got too trusting of people."

"Now that's the Lola Sanchez I remember," said Face. "Sarcastic and bitter to the bone."

"You would be too if you hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep in more than six months. Are you done?"

"For now. Y'know Murdock, I have no idea what you saw in her."

"Yeah, you wouldn't," Murdock said under his breath. He raised his voice. "Hey, it's getting late. I say we fix up some grub before we go at each other's throats again. We got anything in the kitchen, Faceman?"

"No, I didn't have time to stock the fridge," replied the lieutenant. "Looks like we're ordering out."

"Hey, I'll pay for it," Lola said. "After all, you guys are putting up with me again. And I'm warning you now, Billy does not sleep through the night. You're not going to want me and him around after tonight if you value sleep at all."

"Ah, quit complaining," said Murdock. "That's Face's job. It doesn't suit you. So, what do you want, guys? I could go for pepperoni and mushroom pizza."

"Have whatever you want," Hannibal said as he rose from the table. "I need to get going. I've got a make-up call at six tomorrow for this new monster flick _Gila Monster_. It's a great part…reminds me a bit of the Aquamaniac in his motivations, but--"

"You just don't want to stay and help baby-proof this place," interrupted Lola.

"No, I really do have a job as a giant mutated Gila monster terrorizing LA, and I've gotta go. I'll stop by after we finish for the day and see how things are going tomorrow." Hannibal stubbed out his cigar in an ashtray and headed for the door.

Curious, Billy grabbed the cigar and said, "Bah-bah!"

"No!" exclaimed Lola, snatching the cigar from the baby. "That is not your bottle! I'd better feed you before you try to stick something else in your mouth. Putting you on the table was not exactly the smartest thing to do." Billy just smiled and giggled.

"Don't tell me that I can't smoke when I come over here now!" exclaimed the colonel, who had turned around when Lola took his cigar stub away from Billy.

"No, I know better than to mess with your cigars," Lola replied. "Putting Billy within reach of the ashtray was my fault. We'll see you tomorrow, and good luck with the shoot."

Hannibal waved good-bye and closed the front door behind him. Murdock then turned to Face and asked again what he wanted for dinner. Face said, "Sure, pizza sounds good. I'll call the order in while you two try to baby-proof the living room. Hope you don't mind sleeping on the sofa, Lola, because that's the only thing we've got to offer besides the floor."

"It sure beats the mattress I had on the floor at my old place," replied the brunette as she lifted Billy into her arms. "We just need to find something to work as a cradle for Billy."

Murdock stood up, thought a total of five seconds, and said, "I've heard of people using dresser drawers for cradles when they couldn't afford a real one. Maybe we could do something like that. We've got a couple big cardboard boxes around here from moving. Throw some pillows and blankets in there, and _voila_! We've got ourselves a cradle with no sharp edges for Billy to hurt himself on. You might not be able to rock it, but it'll do until we can find something better."

Lola said, "That ought to work. Ok, let's get this place baby-proofed before Billy crawls all over the place and gets himself into trouble, and believe me, he's great at finding trouble in seconds."

"With the two of you as his parents, I'm not surprised," said Face.

Murdock and Lola busied themselves blocking outlets, moving breakable and small objects well out of Billy's reach, and removing other hazards while Face called in the pizza order. Half an hour later the living room was safe for Billy to crawl around and everyone was sitting at the dinette eating. Lola had Billy in her lap and fed him his bottle before eating her pizza.

"You should eat some of this pizza before it gets cold, Lola," said Murdock as he finished off his second slice. "Nothin' beats a pepperoni and mushroom pizza."

"Billy needs to eat too, and he's totally dependent on me to feed him," Lola replied.

"C'mon, let me feed him," Murdock said. "You need to eat, and I need to take on the father role sometime. Besides, I'll eat your pizza if you don't watch it."

"Ok, but you'd better take off your jacket. Billy drools when he eats and sometimes spits up. I'd hate to see something happen to that leather jacket."

"Charming devil, isn't he?" said Face.

"Taking care of a baby isn't anything like what you see on TV," retorted Lola as she handed Murdock the spit rag she had draped over her shoulder. "It's messy and tries your patience constantly, but you learn to love doing it. Then again, I am talking to the man who screams and runs in terror when the word 'commitment' comes up."

"Sounds like old times," smiled Murdock as he slipped out of his coat and tossed it on the sofa. "It's kinda weird how you two fight like an old married couple when you two weren't involved with each other."

"She starts it!" said Face.

"I am not getting into one of those juvenile fights, Templeton Peck! I've got better things to do than to slam your poor, over-inflated male ego in a pathetic battle of wits such as this."

"She got you good, Face!"

"Shut up and feed your kid, Murdock."

After Lola gave Murdock a few instructions on how to hold Billy and feed him his bottle, Billy sucked happily on his bottle as his father cradled him.

Face paused a moment while eating and asked, "Aren't you supposed to…you know…feed him…uh…"

"You mean breastfeed him," supplied Lola as she bit into her slice of pizza.

Face blushed. "Yeah…"

"You just want to see my boobs, don't you?"

Face turned bright pink and stammered while Lola laughed. "I'm just teasing," the brunette chuckled. "I didn't think that breastfeeding was the best option so I feed Billy formula instead."

"Man, this little guy's hungry!" exclaimed Murdock. "He's finished his bottle already! What do I do now?"

"This is the hard part." Lola showed Murdock how to hold Billy to burp him without the baby drooling on him.

Face suddenly stood up to throw away his paper plate. "This is getting just a little over my weirdness tolerance," he said. "First the two of you are getting along and having 'family time', next Hannibal will give up being monsters in low-budget films, BA will want to take up flying, or worst of all," he swallowed, "I'll get married for real."

"That bad?" asked Lola.

"Yes, that bad," said Face as he tossed out his garbage. "Now I'm going to watch some Sunday night football if you don't mind."

"Oh yes, nothing like watching grown men knocking each other into the ground while trying to get an odd-shaped, fake leather ball for the entertainment of the masses. Who's playing?"

"You are so weird." Face plopped down on the sofa and turned on the TV. "Looks like San Francisco and LA. Should be interesting."

Lola finished her pizza and cleared the empty pizza box along with the remaining paper plates and napkins during the kickoff and first down. Meanwhile, Billy belched and spat some partially digested formula on Murdock.

"See?" said Face when he saw his friend's disgusted look at the vomit on the spit rag. "That's why you always, _always _use protection. You never know when you might end up with an ex-girlfriend and your kid on your doorstep in need of help."

"Thank you, Dr. Ruth," said Murdock, wiping Billy's mouth off with a corner of the rag. "Lola, think Billy's good to go?"

"With a belch like that, definitely. Here, I'll take him off your hands now, and you can go do whatever you want."

Murdock handed Billy over to the brunette. "Scoot over, Faceman. I'll join ya."

Face made room, albeit grudgingly, on the couch for his friend, and Murdock flopped next to him. Lola carried Billy over to the carpet and sat him down. She sat in a cross-legged position in front of him, pulled over the box of stuff Murdock brought in earlier, and began arranging toys on the floor in front of Billy.

Murdock, who never enjoyed football to the extent the other guys did, lost interest in the game and watched Lola instead. "What're you doin'?"

"I'm in desperate need of a shower," said the brunette. "May I use your shower?"

"Knock yourself out," Face said. "Though I would prefer the blonde twins from next door… I bet Carol and Freda didn't come over because they saw you with the kid and got scared off. I should be over at their place, my arms around them…"

"Thanks for letting me use the shower," Lola interrupted. "Could you just keep an eye on Billy? He'll probably play by himself quietly no problem. Just make sure he doesn't get into any trouble. He's just learning how to crawl, but he's not too good at it yet. We're definitely going to watch out for him in a few weeks."

"Don't worry about anything, Lola," said Murdock. "You just enjoy the shower."

Lola grabbed a few items out of her suitcase then leaned close to Billy so that she was eye-to-eye with her son. "Ok, Billy. Mama's going to go take a shower, but Daddy's going to watch you. I know you've been passed around laps most of today so you want some time to play by yourself. Good?"

"Ee!" squealed Billy as he grinned and clapped.

Lola smiled and disappeared into the bathroom. Billy grabbed the ears of a battered stuffed dog and began chewing on it.

"What are you doing?" exclaimed Murdock. He slid to the floor and snatched the dog out of Billy's grasp. "Don't put stuff like that in your mouth! You could choke!" The pilot made gagging noises and bugged his eyes out to illustrate, to which Billy giggled. "Now what's your dog's name, Billy? What's his name?"

"Buh-buh!" said Billy.

"Bubba? That's a good name. Now why would you want to bite Bubba's ears like that? What do you think about that, Bubba?"

Murdock used the voice he'd used a long time ago for his sock puppet dog, Sockey, to voice Bubba. "I hate it! Billy, why you bite my ears? That hurts! You want me to do that to you?" The pilot "attacked" Billy with Bubba, and the baby squealed in delight.

"Will you two—three—whatever you are—keep it down to a dull roar?" asked Face. "I can barely hear the game!"

"Aww, you're no fun, Face!"

"Yeah! Why don't ya go find your tall blondes if ya don't like us playin' with Billy?" said Bubba.

Face hit his head against the back of the sofa. "Why oh why did I think you were finally sane, Murdock?"

Billy grinned, got on his stomach, and slithered towards Face. When he reached the sofa, Billy tugged on Face's pant leg to get his attention.

"What do you want?" Face asked Billy, who was now sitting at his feet wearing a broad grin.

"What?" repeated Face.

"A-ease!" he squealed. 

"Hey, Billy wants to play with his Uncle Facey!" said Murdock. "C'mon, play with Billy."

"I am not playing with a six-month-old!" said Face. "He's your kid, you play with him."

"BA's more fun than you," muttered Murdock. "And that's on his bad days."

Lola emerged from the bathroom, dressed in a T-shirt and boxers and towel-drying her hair. "How's everything going? Billy wasn't any trouble, was he?"

"Are you kidding? We're having a great time! Aren't we, Billy?"

Billy squealed in agreement and grabbed Bubba and Murdock's arm in a hug.

"Aww, you love Daddy, don't you Billy?" said Lola as she combed out her hair.

Murdock stared at Billy clutching his arm and smiled. The concept that the baby in front of him was his own child still amazed the pilot; hearing Lola refer to him as "Daddy" felt more unreal than some of his weirdest dreams. Maybe if Murdock had been present during Lola's pregnancy Billy would have seemed more like his own child. Murdock shook his head to clear his thoughts and went back to being the voice of Bubba the dog, much to Billy's delight. Father and son continued playing in this manner for a long time until Billy started to have trouble keeping his eyes open.

"It's time for you to go to bed, Chiquito," said Lola. "I've got your box—err, bed all made up."

Billy whined and rubbed his eyes.

"Oh yes, you're going to bed, sleepy head. You can't fool me. Don't worry, you can play more with Daddy in the morning."

Lola went to scoop up Billy, but Murdock put a hand on her arm. "May I?"

"I was going to change him one last time before bed, but sure, you can try. Shouldn't be too bad since he's so tired he won't put up much of a fight."

"How about I just watch for now?"

Lola chuckled as she picked up Billy and laid him on his back on a large towel on the floor. She proceeded to change him on the makeshift changing table, humming and making the task seem pleasant. Afterwards, she changed Billy into a clean body suit with a little blue dog print and placed him into his baby safe box/crib. Billy was asleep as soon as Lola covered him with a blanket.

"Little guy's exhausted," murmured Murdock.

"Yeah, and so am I," Lola said. She glanced at her watch and almost cried out. "It's 10:30? I can't believe we lasted this long! Usually Billy's long gone by 8:30, 9 at the latest."

Face stretched on the couch and yawned. "Well, the game's over. LA won. I suppose I should give up the couch so you can get some sleep, Lola."

"Thanks a lot for everything, guys," said Lola. "You're angels for letting us into your home considering the circumstances. I'll try to keep Billy quiet tonight when he wakes up so he won't wake you guys up too."

"Don't mention it," Face said as he rose from the sofa and shuffled off towards his bedroom.

"G'night, Lola," said Murdock as he also got up. Before he left for his own room, he gazed lovingly at Billy sleeping and murmured, "Goodnight, Billy."

Lola flopped onto the sofa as Murdock turned off the lights behind him. "Goodnight, Murdock," she muttered before she fell asleep.

****

Murdock woke in the dead of night to Billy crying in the living room. _So this is what it's like to have a baby in the house_, he thought. _Charming. I can see Lola said we'd want to chuck her and Billy out after tonight._ The pilot rolled over to go back to sleep, but the crying didn't stop. Finally Murdock couldn't take it anymore and rose to see what the problem was.

Murdock shuffled into the kitchen just as Billy finally quieted down. The pilot rubbed his eyes to focus in the moonlight and was struck by the scene on the couch.

Bathed in a pool of silvery moonlight, Lola sat rocking Billy at half tempo to a song she sang softly and sweetly. The baby gurgled contentedly and sucked on his fist as his eyes closed. Watching mother and son in such a loving embrace reminded Murdock of why he fell in love with Lola in the first place.

"'Fill my heart with song and let me sing forever more,'" Lola sang on, apparently not aware of her audience. "'You are all I long for, all I worship and adore…'"

"'In other words, please be true,'" Murdock said from the shadows of the kitchen. "I see you still like ol' Blue Eyes."

Lola smiled. "Hey, Billy was almost named after Frank Sinatra." She kissed her son on his forehead before murmuring, "I didn't mean for Billy to wake you up, Murdock."

"It's OK," replied the pilot. "I needed a drink anyway." He grabbed a glass and filled it with water from the sink. "You want anything?"

"Nah, I'm fine, thanks."

Murdock leaned against the counter, sipping his water.

Lola sighed, "You can come and sit with us if you want. We don't bite."

"I'm not so sure about that. You hurt me bad last June. I felt like I'd been mauled by a bear about the same size and with the same attitude as BA. I don't think I could ever tell you just how much you hurt me."

"I know I can never say 'I'm sorry' enough to make you feel better after I screwed up so bad. But I have to say it again. I'm sorry, Murdock. For everything. I know it probably doesn't mean much, but screwing you and your friends over like that was the absolute biggest and worst mistake I've ever made in my life, and trust me, I've done some really stupid stuff through the years."

"Y'know, you were lucky I knocked you up. If you'd come to the door today by yourself, I would've dropkicked you to the curb without a second thought. But I couldn't turn you away with my son in your arms."

"You'd have to be as heartless as me to do that."

"You're not heartless. I saw the way you played with Billy tonight. Your face shone with love and tenderness at everything he did. You're a good mother to him."

Lola lowered her head and gave Billy a half smile. Murdock knew she was blushing from the complement. He set his glass down on the counter and sat down next to her on the sofa. "Y'know, I never thought I'd see you again, and that was both a relief and a heartache. I realized that when I heard you singing. I loved Alia. How much of her was you, Lola?"

"I'm not altogether sure," replied the brunette. "I think Alia was the part of me I kept buried so nothing could hurt me…until you came along. Alia's the person I've always wanted to be—the sensitive and caring lover and friend…and mother."

"I still remember what you said that one night just as you drifted off to sleep—'I love kids. Not babies but kids. You can't talk to babies on an intelligent level, but some of the most interesting conversations I've had were with kids between five and twelve years old.'"

"And you of course. You have one good photographic memory to remember that. But I thought you said that you'd erase everything about me from your memory once you escaped up that ventilation shaft?"

Murdock gazed down at his hands and smiled sheepishly. "I thought I could, but no matter what the Doc and I tried, I couldn't erase everything. You're a very hard person to forget, Lola."

"As are you, Murdock," Lola replied, stifling a yawn. "Sorry about that. Guess I'm more tired than I thought."

"C'mere, I'll put Billy back in his crib so you can go to sleep."

"No, I like sitting here like this. We seem to be able to talk better at night. You can hold Billy if you want though."

"He's fast asleep! I don't wanna wake the little guy up."

As if to prove him wrong, Billy opened his eyes, looked up into his father's, and smiled. Murdock couldn't resist and gently lifted his son from Lola's arms. "You've got a heck of a smile, muchacho," he murmured as he cradled Billy in his arms.

Lola smiled sleepily as she fought to keep her eyes open. She finally admitted defeat and slumped against Murdock's shoulder. "Sorry," the brunette yawned, "but you make a comfy pillow."

"I should get up so you can stretch out on the couch and get a good night's sleep," the pilot yawned in reply.

"Please don't go!" whispered Lola. She looked up at Murdock to find that her plea was not needed. The pilot was fast asleep with Billy snoozing in his arms. The brunette smiled, leaned against Murdock again, and fell into the deepest sleep she'd had in more than a year. 

****

Outside seven dark figures surrounded the house, each one toting an automatic pistol. The leader gestured for everyone to check their weapons then waved them off to different vantage points. Four figures took the sliding doors and the others picked the front door. Once inside, two covered the hallway to the bedrooms, one covered each door, and the leader snuck up on Murdock, Lola, and Billy sleeping on the sofa. The final two covered their leader.

The two figures flanking the leader simultaneously pressed the muzzles of their guns into Lola and Murdock's heads. The sleeping couple woke immediately, their breath catching in their throats.

"Where is it?" hissed the leader to Lola. "Tell us where it is or I'll tell Seven here to blow your pretty little brains out all over your boyfriend. I'm sure your little brat would love to see his mommy die for disobeying orders."

"_Dios mio_, I don't know what you're talking about!" whispered Lola, fear edging her voice. "Leave us the hell alone!"

"Aww, isn't that sweet?" Seven laughed. "We've got a martyr. How about if you don't tell us what we want to know, Abel Four will blow your boyfriend's head off."

"Jesus Christ! Leave him out of this! He knows nothing! If you want to threaten someone, threaten me."

"Lola, what the hell's going on?" Murdock exclaimed. He tried to talk louder so that Face might hear him. "What are these guys looking for?"

"Shut up, flyboy, no one asked you!" said Abel Four as he hit Murdock in the head with his pistol.

"No! Stop it!" Lola cried, waking Billy. Billy immediately screamed for all he was worth, confused and frightened by what was going on.

Lola and Billy's crying woke Face, who ran into the kitchen to see what was happening. Unfortunately for him, the two Abels guarding the hall knocked him to the ground before the lieutenant could do anything.

"Will you just leave them alone!" shrieked Lola. "They don't know anything!"

"The boss wants back what you stole," the leader said. He glanced down at screaming Billy in Lola's arms. "And I think I know how to get it for him." He yanked Billy out of Lola's grasp and marched towards the front door with the shrieking infant squirming in his arms.

"NO! Come back with my baby!" Lola screamed, tears pouring down her cheeks. She tried to jump up from the sofa to run after the lead Abel, but Abel Seven slapped her and jabbed his gun into her forehead. "Please, I'll do anything, just give me back my baby!"

Abel One, the leader, grinned in the shadows. "That's just what we wanted to hear. You know where to find us and your brat. You'd better deliver what you stole in two days or you won't see your kid again."

With that, the Abels withdrew from the house and vanished into the night.

"Who the hell were those guys?" moaned Face from the floor.

Murdock reached over to the lamp next to the sofa and turned it on. "It was about six or seven of the Abels," he said deathly quiet, eyeing Lola who was crying into her hands.

Face sat up, rubbed his head where he'd been hit, and blinked his eyes to get used to the light. "Abels? You mean as in Stockwell's lackeys?"

"I don't know. I was about to ask Lola the same question. Lola, what the hell's going on? Why were those guys looking for something you stole? What are they looking for anyway?"

Lola balled her hands into fits and slammed them into her lap. She whipped around to face Murdock, her face puffy, red, and tear-stained. "They kidnapped our son and all you can do is ask me what they're looking for?" she exclaimed. "What kind of father are you? Don't you care about Billy?" She swung at Murdock, but he dodged her fist easily. Lola collapsed in the pilot's arms in a fresh bout of tears.

"Of course I do," Murdock murmured as he cradled Lola in his arms. "But I can't do much for him if I don't know why he was kidnapped in the first place. Now what happened?"

Lola wiped her face. "I was hoping that I wouldn't have to get any of you involved, but I realize now that there was no way I could've hid out from him and his shadows forever. It was stupid of me to come here in the first place."

"Who are you hiding from?"

"My boss from the Alliance Tech deal."

"Who?"

"I told you then. Don't you remember? Hunt Stockwell's my boss."

"_What_?" exclaimed Face and Murdock in union. "That low down, scum-sucking rat is your boss?"

"Yes," Lola said quietly. "And I've got a helluva lot of explaining to do."

"I'm calling Hannibal over," Face said, jumping up to get the phone. "He's gonna want to hear this."

"You might want to start a pot of coffee," added Lola. "This is going to be a long, long, long story."

****

To be continued…

Yeah, I apologize for the sap and junk. I don't know what came over me, I swear! I'm warning you all now, the next chapter's going to be long and all explanation. I'll try my best to make it as interesting and bearable as I can so you don't suffer much. Stockwell's role and history will be explained so those of you who asked me what his part was with the A-Team was in "Tangled Web" should be satisfied. We'll see about when Chapter 3 will get posted.


	3. To the Bottom

Author's notes: Same as previous chapters. Also I apologize for the long wait, but it's not easy writing lengthy explanations of complicated plots. Hopefully most of you will be pleased with this chapter after something like two or three months of no updates. A lot of the explanation might not make sense if you haven't watched the first three episodes of Season 5 ("Dishpan Man," "Trial by Fire", and "Firing Line"). I don't think there's anything else worth mentioning, so on with the story!

****

Half an hour after the Abels kidnapped Billy, Lola still lay sobbing in Murdock's arms. At one point she had asked to walk along the beach, but Murdock refused since he believed Lola was so distraught that she'd try to drown herself. He might have only been a father for twelve hours, but he knew what grief felt like. Someone in Lola's state of mind shouldn't be left alone for more than two minutes.

"Jesus, Murdock," Lola finally hiccupped through her sobs. "I can't do anything right! I think I'm doing the right thing for a change, but then the people I love the most are taken away from me as punishment. First you, now Billy. When will I ever learn?"

Murdock rocked Lola as she started on a fresh bout of tears. "Look, don't worry about Billy," he murmured. "Hannibal should be here any minute. He'll know what to do."

"Know what?" Lola sniffed. "I should've taken up Hannibal's offer to help out with getting rid of Stockwell last year. Maybe then we could've stayed together and raised a family like normal people. I hear the vast majority of them don't have to worry about creepy guys with guns abducting their children in the dead of night."

Lola tried to laugh, but it died into yet more sobbing. Murdock wished that Hannibal would hurry up and come to try to save the day before Lola tried to do anything stupid.

As if on cue, Hannibal knocked on the front door and entered the bungalow before Face could answer. "Hi, sorry I'm late," said the colonel, "but BA just got into town and we had a heck of a time trying to get Frankie up at this hour."

"I still don't get how you military types can be up at all hours, no problemo," moaned Frankie, who followed Hannibal.

Lola bolted upright and wiped her face as BA retorted, "You Hollywood types are supposed to be partying all night long."

"Yeah, whatever," said Frankie. "So what's so important that you dragged us all the way up to Santa Monica at 3 a.m., Johnny?"

"Why don't you let Lola explain?" said Hannibal. He gestured to the brunette on the couch. "Frank, meet Lola Sanchez. Lola, this is Frankie Santana. He got roped into working for Stockwell along with us. Lola has vital information on that scumbag and--"

"Lola Sanchez?" exclaimed Frankie, interrupting Hannibal. "Not Lola Sanchez from the Barrio!"

"Oh, yes indeed, Frankie," growled Lola. "Or should I call you Francine?"

"Umm, you two know each other?" asked Face.

"Oh yeah," said Frankie. "We grew up on the same block. She was about seven years older than me, always knocking over the local shops with that gang of hers."

"You loved to tag along, _Francine_," retorted Lola. "Always ratting us out to your daddy whenever you thought we were up to something. You were always wrong though."

"I wasn't wrong about you robbing my pop! He took you in after your mother died, and you turned around and busted up our place!"

"I told you, we were set up by a rival gang! We got sent up to the farm because the Bulldogs didn't like girls intruding on their territory, which coincidentally is the reason why we're all standing around here now. If your family hadn't believed that my gang and I were responsible for that robbery, Stockwell never would've recruited me in the first place and none of you would ever have met him. So you can thank Francine for getting you all out of bed at this ungodly hour!"

Frankie launched himself at Lola, but BA held him back. "If anyone's gonna beat her up, it's gonna be me," BA said.

"You already did, don't you remember?" asked Lola as she ran her fingers down the scars BA's rings had left on her cheek the year before. "I remember it every time I look in the mirror."

"Yes," Hannibal said as he cleared his throat, "it's nice to take a trip down memory lane, but we need to know what happened here tonight."

"It's like Face told you," said Lola, "Abel One through Abel Seven came and abducted Billy."

"Billy? They can't kidnap an imaginary dog!" exclaimed BA.

"Of course not! Billy's our son," Murdock replied. "Lola's and mine."

"WHAT?!" thundered BA. "You had a kid with _her_? You are crazy!"

"I'll second that," added Frankie. "When did you two ever meet anyway?"

"Last June when Colonel Decker almost got his hands on all four of us for real," Face answered. "Speaking of which, that's what Lola promised to explain to us now."

"No, she's going to explain why she thinks Murdock's the father of her kid which isn't here!" growled BA. "She's up to her tricks again."

"No, I'm not!" exclaimed Lola. "Face, show 'em the pictures I have of Billy in my wallet. You've still got it, right?"

"Yeah, right here," Face said as he pulled the wallet out of his pocket and handed it to BA. "I went through everything in there twice and checked it out with public records. Lola's been telling the truth since she showed up yesterday afternoon."

BA flipped open the wallet and pulled out half a dozen photos of Billy. Sure enough, Murdock's eyes and smile beamed up from the baby's face in the pictures.

"This baby ain't Murdock's!" BA said doggedly.

"BA, I held Billy in my arms and I knew he was mine!" exclaimed Murdock.

"Let's just drop the whole deal about who Billy's father is, Ok?" Lola said exasperated. "There are a lot more important things we need to talk about first, believe me."

"Yeah, like how Stockwell's your boss," said Face.

"And more importantly, why he wanted us working for him in the first place, then let us go with those pardons," added Hannibal.

"Those pardons are fakes," said Lola. "Anything that comes out of that man's mouth is a lie."

"What?" exclaimed Frankie.

"Why should we believe you?" asked Face. "I checked over the documents that Hannibal swiped from his office. They're genuine."

"Then they're very good fakes," said Lola. "I've checked all the papers from all over the country over the last year for any news about you guys. Nothing. Especially about any sort of pardon. Something like that would've made headline news even though you've fallen out of the public eye in recent years."

"What makes you think that we're going to believe you over Stockwell?" asked Hannibal. "Especially given your track record."

Lola rubbed her eyes in frustration. "Will you guys just hear me out before you start questioning me about my motives? I need to tell you everything I know before we run out of time. We only have about forty-five hours left to come up with a plan to get Billy back and take down Stockwell before he skips out again."

BA opened his mouth to question Lola further, but Hannibal held up a hand to silence him. "Ok," said the colonel, "let's hear it then."

Lola sighed. "There's so much you need to know… I should've told you ages ago when I first met you, but I was stupid and naïve. Anyway, that's no longer important. What is important is that Stockwell's had it out for you for years, especially Murdock."

"That's not news," grumbled Murdock. "Ever since I met him last year, he's seemed like he has a grudge against me. Can't figure out why though."

"It's because he fears you, Murdock," continued Lola. "He's feared you since you met during your CIA years."

"What!" cried Murdock. "I never met him before last August!"

Lola buried her head in her hands for several moments, then raised her head again and ran her fingers through her hair. "Oh God, I don't like bringing this up… I can only imagine how bad this is going to be for you, Murdock. This is why I didn't want to tell you guys anything in the first place.

"Murdock, you probably blocked out the memories of the incident that made you leave the CIA. Stockwell used to work for them, back in the '50s and early '60s, did really well too. Until you came along. He was your superior on a mission to find a mole in the company…"

It was Murdock's turn to hide his face in his hands. A tidal wave of memories crashed through the perfect mental blockades he'd had to keep them at bay for more than twenty years, flooding his mind with images no one should have to witness.

"Stockwell ordered you to torture another agent he said was the mole," continued Lola in a cracking whisper, as if she was displaying the pain Murdock felt, "but you refused. You said that there were other ways of finding proof and getting a confession. Stockwell didn't listen and tortured the agent in front of you instead to 'teach' you how to be a better agent.

"After being forced to watch the other agent almost tortured to death, you called up Washington and reported Stockwell to the director. Turned out--"

"Stockwell was the mole," Murdock finished in a hollow voice. "He just tortured the other agent to keep the rest of the company off his tail. Bastard! The agent died of his wounds a month later. Left behind a pregnant wife. I can't believe I didn't recognize that bastard when he showed up last year! Jesus Christ!"

Murdock surprised everyone, except Lola, by punching the couch. He jumped up and started pacing the living room, muttering under his breath.

_I can't believe I did that! _Murdock thought, his body shaking with pent up rage. _I could've saved my friends from that bastard! But no, I had to put my own selfishness ahead of them. I stupidly thought that I could lock it all away so it couldn't come back to hurt me again. If something had happened to any of the guys, I never would forgive myself…_

"Murdock?" asked Hannibal quietly. "Is what Lola saying true?"

"I wish it wasn't, but it is," said Murdock, rubbing his temples to get some sort of order in his brain. "Every last word is true."

"And it gets worse," said Lola, her eyes misting over. "Do you remember what really happened that night when you reported back to HQ after dropping the rest of the team off for the Bank of Hanoi job? About who murdered Colonel Morrison?"

Already vulnerable from Lola bringing up his time at the CIA, Murdock stopped pacing and jammed his hands into his eyes as if to stop the memories from flashing across his mind.

"Yes," he hissed, pain and anger cracking his voice. "I remember hearing Stockwell's voice in Morrison's office just before the bombing. They were arguing about something, something about dealing weapons and the A-Team getting too close… then gunshots… I ran from there just as the Viet Cong blasted HQ to hell."

"Wait," said Hannibal, "you heard Stockwell murder Morrison? What the hell was Stockwell doing there?"

"When he got booted from the CIA, Stockwell decided to join his criminal buddies and went into gun running," Lola said. "He ended up getting involved with your buddy Curtis and went over to Vietnam with him. The two of them negotiated a deal with Morrison so that they could run guns and give intel to the Viet Cong—basically covered each other's butts.

"However, the A-Team gained respect and some power among the men, causing Morrison to fear you. He knew you were bright enough to figure out what all of them were up to and told the others that they needed to shut down the business. Curtis opted with Morrison, but Stockwell had other plans. He figured they could set you guys up with the Bank of Hanoi job and get you sent to a military prison for the better part of your lives.

"The plan seemed easy enough, but at the last minute Morrison got cold feet. Stockwell and he fought in Morrison's office when Murdock came back from dropping the rest of the team off. Stockwell had had enough of Morrison, who was threatening to go to his superiors and report everything, and shot him. Stockwell heard Murdock run for it and chased after him just as the bombing began. When Stockwell finally caught up to Murdock, he was… jabbering incoherently. He figured you weren't much of a threat, but stayed suspicious, so he kept tabs on you through the years…until he could use you.

"Stockwell got himself connected high up in the government between his CIA years and his different 'side jobs', but no one could keep looking the other way forever. So someone made Stockwell a deal that if he did some 'favors' that included suicide missions, they'd leave him alone. Since he's not one to do his own dirty work, Stockwell figured that if he played you guys right, he could blackmail you all into doing the missions for him under the pretense of being a government agent capable of getting you pardoned."

Hannibal took a long drag on his cigar and said, "It's a great story, Lola—might make a good Robert Ludlum book even—but how do we know for sure that it's the truth about why Stockwell was interested in us in the first place and you're not just blowing smoke?"

"Because I've got proof," answered Lola. She picked up Billy's stuffed dog, unzipped its stomach, and pulled out a computer disk that was hidden inside. "When I was in jail awaiting trial and found out that I was pregnant, Stockwell somehow found out and paid me a visit. He played on my fears that I would have to give birth in prison and have to send Billy to an orphanage until I got released, and then suggested that I agree to come work for him again. He promised to make sure my case got dropped… and threatened that if I didn't accept his offer, he'd make sure that none of you, especially Murdock, would make it back from your first mission alive.

"I had no choice but to go do minor work for him, planning your missions, usually sneaking in more information than Stockwell would want to give, back at Langley. That's why Billy was born there.

"After Billy turned five months old, I couldn't take living like that anymore. I hoarded away money and other supplies, planning an escape. One day Stockwell stupidly left me alone with his computer, so I copied all his files detailing all his dirty schemes over the years onto this disk and got the hell outta there as fast as I could. After I was sure Stockwell couldn't find us easily, I brought Billy to LA. I told Stockwell that I hated the city and never wanted to go back there, which is only partially true, so that he wouldn't look for me here. I knew that if you ever got released, you'd come back here. Sure enough, you did. But Stockwell must've figured the same thing because he sent the Abels here to get back the disk. He must've had them tail Murdock in hopes that I would show up with Billy and they could get me then. But since I didn't give them the disk, they took Billy, and now we have less than two days to figure out how to get Billy back from his grandfather and lock Stockwell up for good."

"Wait a minute," said Murdock. "We have to get Billy back from his _grandfather_?"

"Stockwell's your _father_?" exclaimed Hannibal.

"I knew I hated the both of 'em for a reason," growled BA.

"Ugh! That's disgusting!" Face gagged.

Lola's eyes went wide. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that. You didn't need to know that. But yes, Stockwell raped my mother and produced me. You probably think it makes sense now that I betrayed you and lied to you. I know, it disgusts me too."

"But you look nothing like him," said Murdock.

"Yes I do," said Lola. "I'm almost the spitting image of my mother, but I have his eyes. Just look at me."

Murdock gazed into Lola's deep brown eyes to see if any of Stockwell was in them. Her eyes were the right shape and color to be Stockwell's, but they had a warmth and sadness in them that were missing from Stockwell's cold, hard eyes.

Murdock managed a small smile. "You aren't your father's daughter. You have a conscience and learned to treat people right. Though it took some time and all…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" exclaimed Frankie, who waved his hands in the air as if trying to force order into everything that had been said in the past half hour. "Did that sound nuts to anyone besides me?"

"Yeah," BA said, cracking his knuckles.

"But it's crazy enough to be true," said Hannibal. "Where can we get access to a computer so we can check out that disk?"

"You trust this liar?" growled BA.

"Not completely, but her story does make a helluva lot of sense," the colonel replied.

"Well…" Lola began, "there are two people you can check the story with--"

"Great!" said Face. "Who?"

"One you're going to like, and the other one only Hannibal will," answered Lola. "Amy Allen, the reporter at the Los Angeles Courier whom the A-Team has a rather famous history with--"

"Amy?" asked Face. "She's been overseas for the past three or four years on assignment! When did she come back?"

"When the news reported you'd been executed, she came back to the states," Lola answered. "She didn't buy the story, but before Amy could figure anything out, Stockwell blocked her path. It didn't deter her, and last I knew she was digging around for dirt on Stockwell in her spare time."

"Man, we haven't seen Amy in ages!" said Murdock. "We should look her up, even if she can't help. Who's the other person?"

Lola took a deep breath. "Colonel Decker."

"_Decker_?" exclaimed BA. "Now I know she's lying!"

"How can Decker help us?" Hannibal asked with an amused glint in his blue eyes.

"It seems Stockwell broke a deal with him when Decker almost caught you guys last year," explained Lola. "Stockwell promised Decker that he'd be able to further his rank and capture both the A-Team and my 'gang' in one fell swoop. Stockwell didn't follow through with his end of the deal and pissed off Decker. Ever since Decker's been waiting for a chance to get back at Stockwell. Not to mention Decker still has connections to government intelligence that'll be of use to you."

"This is getting weirder by the minute!" moaned Face.

Hannibal grinned and lit a cigar.

Murdock smiled. "Got a plan, Colonel?"

"Great, Hannibal's on the jazz," muttered Face.

"We're going to pay Amy and good ol' Decker a visit," said Hannibal as smoke curled around his sparkling blue eyes.

****

To be continued…

Note: It's not explicit, but Lola decided to name her baby Billy instead of Frank after Frank Sinatra because she hates Frankie Santana and will always associate the name Frank with Frankie instead of Sinatra.

Oh, and I have no idea when Chapter 4 might get posted. Probably not until September if you're lucky.


	4. In the Same Vein

Author's notes: Wow, I have no idea how I got this out so fast. Well, it wasn't exactly in the plan in the first place, but then I realized that I still had some explaining to do. So think of this as a continuation of the previous chapter. Actually, I think if you put the two of them together, they equal about the length of one of my normal chapters. So those of you who wanted a sooner update than September got your wish, and I won't make any predictions for when Chapter 5 will be out. I learned my lesson. Definitely before the end of the year though :). 

I think the notes from previous chapters are all that apply here, besides my apologies for sappiness. I hate reading it, but I can't figure out why I write it. At least it's close to a minimum. Don't worry, some comical stuff next chapter with Decker showing up. Heh heh heh heh… Anyway, on with the show! :~)

****

"You are all completely nutso!" exclaimed Frankie. "You're gonna go ask the guy the Army sent to chase you for help, on the word of this fruitcake?" he asked, pointing wildly at Lola. "You know that if she's lying—which she most definitely is—we can say 'adios' to our pardons! I don't know about you guys, but I don't wanna be messing with that. I'd like to be a normal citizen again soon."

"Oh come on, Frank!" sighed Lola. "Haven't you learned anything from your almost thirty years of life? Do you really believe that Stockwell has the power to grant you pardons?"

"He knows the President," the Puerto Rican retorted.

"We've heard and watched Stockwell talk to him," Face added when Lola snorted.

"You mean he says, 'Hello, Mr. President' when he answers the phone," said the brunette. "I bet you every time he answered the phone that way I was the one calling."

"What do you mean you were calling Stockwell?" BA growled.

"What I mean is that it's all part of his charade. I'd have to call in information I looked up for Stockwell or progress of other 'missions' on a regular basis. Whenever you guys were around and I called, he'd pretend he was talking to the President. Pissed me off to no end because he knew how much I wanted to talk to any one of you. Well, I didn't know Frankie was part of the team. Doubt anyone besides Stockwell knows exactly who all he's got under his thumb anyway."

Hannibal stood calmly puffing on his cigar. "What about Trigorin, Stockwell's ex-CIA buddy?" he drawled. "What do you know about that?"

"Oh," Lola said quietly. "That. Well, that would be my half-assed attempt at getting Stockwell. Stockwell wanted me to look Trigorin up for some reason—never gave me a reason why he wanted certain information—and I found out about all his work with Chinese Intelligence and his betrayal of Stockwell. I set up Stockwell's kidnapping, knowing that one, Trigorin would probably torture him for information, and two, I could get access to everything and go to the authorities. Problem was that that Carla managed to close down most of the files I wanted before I could copy them in anticipation of Stockwell's permanent absence. That's how I managed to get the disk and pack without him taking much notice. I managed to copy a few more files just before I got the hell outta there."

"But Carla said that everything would disappear in thirty six hours after they lost contact with Stockwell," Frankie said irritably.

"It probably would have if you guys hadn't decided to rescue his lousy carcass," said Lola. "He's got that as a fail safe in case the cops got hold of him, not if the 'operation' is overrun by terrorists. I stupidly thought that you guys would want to get out of there as soon as you found out that Stockwell was gone, but of course Carla thought to play the fake pardon card and cornered you into rescuing the bastard."

"Wait…" Murdock began. "If you did 'go fer' work for Stockwell, looking stuff up and all, that means you--"

"I was the one who looked up Face's background and confirmed Bancroft was his father," Lola finished. "That actually didn't take that long to figure out. The nuns and priest at the orphanage were more than willing to help out. Seems they still remember the charming blue-eyed blonde boy who had a knack for getting himself in and out of trouble in a flash. I would've had that information back to Stockwell a whole lot sooner, but I was selfishly trying to bargain with him to give Murdock the information directly."

Face set his mouth into a thin line and put his hands on his hips. Even Lola knew the lieutenant was livid. "You cost me valuable time I could've used to talk to him on a father-son basis!" he growled. "While you messed around, I lost any chance of asking Bancroft about why he left my mother and me! What were you thinking? Did you honestly think that any one of us would've talked to you long enough for you to get past 'hi, it's Lola'?"

Lola bit her lip and gazed at the floor. "At the time I didn't think about it. I was horribly naïve…took me thirty-six years, but I finally grew up. When Murdock asked Stockwell to look up Face's father, I was five months pregnant and terrified what could happen to you guys, which didn't help the baby at all. It's a miracle Billy's as healthy as he is. Even though the doctor never said it, I'm sure I almost miscarried twice."

Lola picked up Billy's stuffed dog and hugged it tight. She rocked gently in her seat, staring off into space.

"How'd you get yourself tied to Amy Allen?" asked Hannibal. "We know how you hooked up with Decker for awhile." The colonel could tell that Lola was under stress worrying about her child, but he knew that this might be the only chance he had at uncovering the truth.

The brunette closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "Remember that woman reporter you rescued from the mafia boss and helped foil an assassination plot? Stockwell gave me the tape of her report on how you guys were still alive and at large and told me to destroy it. He didn't want anyone to know that you all were still alive, least of all Miss Allen. I ran across Miss Allen's name repeatedly when Stockwell originally ordered my gang and me to research the A-Team for the Alliance Tech job. I figured that if she was as close to you guys as the rumors said, she'd stop at nothing to get to the bottom of Stockwell's plot.

"Sure enough, your Miss Allen almost lost her job with the Courier when she started digging into the circumstances of your apparent executions and Murdock's disappearance from the VA. That's when that other reporter's tape fell into my lap. I immediately sent it to Miss Allen with a note saying, 'Your guys are all right for now. Be careful that Hunt Stockwell doesn't come after you.' She must've taken it seriously because she's still working at the Courier and chases leads on you guys in her spare time. I was going to mail the disk I made to her, but Stockwell suspected I was up to something and started screening all my mail. So that's another reason why I came out here."

"How do you know what Amy's up to?" asked Murdock. "You've never had any direct contact with her if we can believe you."

"I have my own sources," replied Lola. "Besides, I can use Stockwell's own channels to find out what I want."

"But if Stockwell's sources are just as tainted as you say he is, then how do you know that you're getting facts rather than him feeding you junk?" asked Hannibal.

"I don't. But he has to forget to cover his tracks somewhere so something has to be true. It's called risk. You guys know all about that stuff. Besides, when we visit your friend Miss Allen, she can verify at least part of my story."

"Now that's a fairly large 'if' right now, Lola," said Hannibal. "Why don't you start over from the beginning and see if you can tell the same story twice so I can consider your proposition?"

****

After Lola recounted all she claimed to know about Stockwell and his link to the A-Team, the government, Billy, and Lola herself, Hannibal continued to question her about every imaginable aspect of her story. The brunette kept repeating the same story each time with increasing agitation. After the fourth time Hannibal asked her about Stockwell's business with Curtis's gun running Lola growled, "I told you already! I don't know exactly how they met, but--"

Face rolled his eyes. He didn't care what Lola said anymore. He silently applauded Hannibal for putting up with her as long as he had—Face had no doubts that Lola was either lying about some key point in her story or she was conveniently leaving one out. From the way that BA was cracking his knuckles and Frankie was glaring at Lola, Face knew that he wasn't the only one who didn't believe the woman.

When Hannibal launched into the fifth go around, Face sighed and looked around the room for Murdock. The pilot stood with his forehead pressed against the sliding glass doors, gazing out into the barely visible white line of foam of the breakers in the darkness, lost in deep thought. Face quietly walked up beside his friend and gazed out at the pitch-black ocean.

"How're you doing?" Face whispered so no one else would notice them.

Murdock squeezed his eyes shut as if wincing from a migraine. "Tryin' to figure out what's up and what's down," he muttered. "Hate it when the world decides to do a back flip without tellin' me."

"Murdock…" began Face, but he didn't have a clue where to start. Finally, he decided to go on instinct. "I won't pretend that I know what you're going through, because, like you said earlier, I don't know anything about what you've gone through—or what you're going through right now."

"Don't get all mushy on me, Face," Murdock drawled as he turned his head to look at his friend. "Right now you probably know about as much as me about what's going on."

Face took a deep breath. "Which brings me to this: Was anything Lola said true? Or was she just lying to trick us again?"

Murdock gave a hollow chuckle. "Y'know, I don't know anymore. When she was talkin' about the CIA and stuff, I _saw_ what she was talkin' about…like I was remembering…but now I can't sort out what's real and what's not in my head again. It's like—I dunno how to put it—someone took the shoebox of all my memories and decided to throw it inside a giant mixing bowl with every dream, hallucination, and imaginary thing I've ever had."

Face joined in pressing his head against the doors. He felt completely helpless in trying to sort out the mess that was now their lives. The only thing that seemed to be going in their favor was that Murdock was still talking rationally. But how long would that last?

"Murdock, I don't know how you feel about Lola," said Face, "but I don't think she's being completely honest. Sure, the stuff in her wallet checks out so far, but some things don't seem to add up. For instance, she just happens to pick today—well, yesterday—to stop by here. How could she possibly know we moved in? And then there's the story of her being Stockwell's daughter… If that's true, she could be here to set us up for another one of his jobs. And that kid—sure it looks kinda like you, but sometimes total strangers can look like each other and they aren't even remotely related. Lola could've had the kid with another guy she met before or after you and decided to trap you. Hell, she could even have picked up the kid from someone else! I haven't seen a copy of the baby's birth certificate, have you?"

Murdock continued to stare out at the surf in silence.

"I'm not saying that maybe she's telling the truth," continued Face, "but her stories are full of holes… and you know her track record as well as me. I—just—don't want you to have to go back to the VA again."

Murdock gave his friend a wan smile. "Don't worry. If I can stay out of there for more than a year, I can stay out of there a heck of a lot longer. Doubt if anybody besides the Doc missed me…I was never around, and if I was, I was running off with you guys."

The pilot heaved a tired sigh. "Could you see if Hannibal's done with Lola for awhile? I want to talk to her alone. Trust me on this, Ok?" he said when Face gave him a worried look.

Face sighed, shrugged, and picked himself off the glass doors to talk to Hannibal. It took some needling, but the colonel finally agreed to let Murdock and Lola talk by themselves on the porch. Hannibal would get plenty of time before dawn to question Lola more.

Lola and Murdock stood leaning on the railing to the porch for several minutes before either one spoke. "I would comment on the beauty of the night, but I know that's not what you want to talk about," said Lola.

"No," replied Murdock, his words just barely loud enough to be heard over the breeze and surf. "Face and I were talking…"

Lola shuddered slightly. "Nothing good, I take it."

"There are many holes that can't be ignored about Billy and his parentage."

"What do you want me to say?" Lola said exasperatedly. "I've told you--"

"You've told me what you knew would keep me from kicking you out of this house and back into jail where you belong!" Murdock growled, his voice rising with each word. "I can't trust you, I can't trust anything you say."

"What? Are you saying that you believe Stockwell over me? Who's held you all hostage for the past year? Who's been using you for that same time? Tell me!"

"For all I know, you and him could be on the same side, helping him."

Lola stood at her full height, her eyes flashing and her hair blowing around her like dark flames licking at her face. "I _hate_ that man with every fiber of my being!" she hissed. "I swore on my mother's grave I'd murder the bastard, but I never had the guts. How _dare_ you insinuate I'd rat you out to him! You're the only man I've ever loved besides my son!"

"So you keep saying," Murdock said coolly.

Murdock's calmness angered Lola even more. "What the hell do I have to do?!" she yelled. Her face had turned scarlet and tears welled up in her eyes. "What the _hell_ do I have to do to get you to believe me, even just listen to me? I'm not the same Lola Sanchez you knew last June! I've changed! Can't you see I've changed? Jesus Christ, you don't know what I've been through--"

"And you don't know or care what _I've_ been through during that year!" Murdock yelled back at her. He stood close to a foot taller than Lola, but it felt like they were glaring at each other at eye level. "All you've talked about since you got here was how hard you're life's been, how you've struggled with a baby, how you tried to escape Stockwell—you're just a selfish bitch I should've chucked out when I met you!"

Lola stood stunned with her hand against her cheek as if Murdock's curse slapped her. She opened and closed her mouth silently several times, looked down at her feet, and then murmured, "I'm sorry, Murdock. You're right. You're absolutely right. I have no right to complain about my situation over yours. Hell, I have a large part in putting you in this situation, not that I ever wanted to do that."

Lola laughed sardonically. "I don't even know why I'm saying stuff like that anymore. You don't believe me—I know the others won't believe me until Hell freezes over… I don't know what to do anymore."

She relaxed a bit and locked eyes with Murdock. When she spoke, it was in an even, earnest tone. "Look, I know that you're making sure that I'm not stringing you guys along again, but nothing I've told you so far has convinced you of anything. I don't know how I can prove myself to you! Tell me, give me some hint as to what I can do to show you I'm telling you the truth before I lose my baby just like I lost you to Stockwell!"

She hugged herself tightly even though the night was warm and looked out to sea again. "You don't really know what it feels like to have empty arms," she murmured. "All I want right now is to have Billy back in mine, safe and sound. I don't care if you believe me anymore. I'm going to get my Chiquito back myself if I have to!"

Lola turned to dash off the porch and to the driveway, but Murdock caught her arm. He held tight as she tried to throw him off to no avail. When she gave up, she looked up into his eyes; he could see that she was choking back a fresh bout of tears.

"_Please_," Lola mouthed. "Please help me."

Murdock closed his eyes and sighed. He wished he could figure out what to do, but his head kept spinning faster and faster. Finally he opened his eyes and said, "Talk to Hannibal. He's the man with the plan, not me. I know he's been grilling you for more than an hour now, but you have to prove yourself with him before you even get a chance with the rest of us. In other words, we're thinking about it. Now c'mon in the house before you try to rescue Billy without a plan or backup."

Lola sniffed loudly and managed a weak smile. "Yeah, it would be pretty stupid of me, but I'm running out of options, time, and patience. I'm getting desperate."

"I know you are. Let's ask Hannibal what his plan is and go from there, ok?"

Lola sighed and nodded. Murdock steered her back into the bungalow where the rest of the group was waiting, concern and anxiety etched on their faces. Hannibal opened his mouth to say something, but the pilot stopped him by saying, "It's ok, Hannibal. We were just…having a heart-to-heart talk. Lola just wants to know what the plan is, and if she doesn't find out soon, she's going to try to go and get Billy back herself."

"Though that may seem to be a good plan to you, Lola, I've got a better one," said Hannibal, faintly smiling around his cigar. "We're going to go see Amy and Decker at sunup. Now everyone just lay low until then, all right?"

Everyone else murmured agreement and found something to do. Face and Murdock both grabbed mugs of coffee and sat at one end of the kitchen table in deep conversation. Hannibal joined the two men, while Frankie flopped into the recliner and stared off into space as if trying to figure out what to do until dawn. Lola headed for the sofa, but BA held her back.

"If you're tellin' lies again," BA growled as he ground one fist into the other, "I'll show you a new meaning of pain!"

Lola rolled her eyes and pushed past the sergeant. "Oh please! Don't you even talk to me about pain. Try being in labor for sixteen hours and then we'll discuss real pain."

****

To be continued (dun, dun, dun!)…


	5. Demons and Friends

Notes: Not many this time around. Just want to say that regardless of anyone else's opinions, Amy was a good character. She was definitely head and shoulders above Tawnia Baker (or as I like to refer to her, Tawnia Half-Baked). The first time Marla Heasley appeared on _The A-Team_ she was one of Face's bimbos on a yacht he'd conned (I think the episode was "Bad Time on the Border"). As far as I'm concerned, her acting didn't improve much. If anything she was playing the same part, just with more clothes. Melinda Culea on the other hand could be sarcastic and got to use a homemade rocket launcher. Now that's cool! Anyway, I think that's it, so on with the story.

****

Amy Allen sat sipping coffee at the kitchen table in her LA apartment. She gazed unseeing out the window facing the rising sun. The sky burned orange in the morning smog, but Amy was too preoccupied with a nightmare that had woken her yet again. Ever since she'd heard the news that the A-Team had been executed and Murdock had disappeared, the nightmare never failed to wake Amy at least once a week.

Every night it was the same: Hannibal, Face, BA, and Murdock were lined up in front of a black stone wall with a rifle pointed at each of them. All four men stood steadfast, emotionless, and silent.

Every time Amy yelled, "This is wrong! They're innocent! Guys, tell them you're innocent!"

But the A-Team said nothing while the rifles clicked, cocked by invisible executioners. No one heard Amy scream as the shots rang out. Every time she would wake up screaming and in a cold sweat.

Amy rubbed the bags under her eyes, souvenirs of the many early mornings her nightmare caused. She took another swig of coffee and thought about the information about the A-Team's execution she'd gathered in the past year. It seemed like no matter where she turned, someone railroaded her—until the mysterious videotape and note showed up in her mail almost a year ago.

Amy did as the note told her and looked up Hunt Stockwell. She'd never seen a background so shady, but she couldn't figure out what Stockwell had to do with the A-Team's disappearance or possible death. The only person he seemed to have a link to was Murdock.

Amy surprised herself when she cried after reading the report of Murdock's involvement in Stockwell's discharge from the CIA. She hadn't realized until then just how much the pilot meant to her. She then remembered all the times she picked him up after he broke out of the VA to grab the rest of the A-Team from the Army's clutches, the countless times they flirted casually. Amy always expected Murdock to be in the VA, bright-eyed and ready to go find the team before the Army could do anything. But the pilot's absence drove the seriousness and finality of the A-Team's disappearance home.

At first Amy thought she was imagining the intercom buzzing and ignored it. When it buzzed a second time, she slopped coffee over the table when she heard the voice. It couldn't be…

"Hey, kid!" said the voice over the intercom. "Want to let us up?"

"Hannibal?" Amy whispered, not believing her ears. He couldn't possibly be in the lobby of her apartment building. She was just imagining hearing Hannibal because she was daydreaming about the A-Team's disappearance. Right?

As if to answer her question, Hannibal said, "Amy, you awake?"

Another voice said, "Hannibal, she might not be up yet. I mean it's only 6:30. We can come back later."

Amy jumped up from her chair and raced to the intercom. Unless she was mistaken, Face was with Hannibal.

"Hannibal?" she asked, panting. "Face? Is that you?"

"Hi, kid, we thought you might be sleeping in on a Saturday morning," crackled Hannibal's voice over the intercom. "Would you mind buzzing us in so we can come visit you?"

"Of course! Are Murdock and BA with you?"

"Heya Amy!" Murdock called. It sounded as if he was at the opposite end of the lobby as the intercom. "Me and the mudsucker are here too!"

Amy smiled as BA growled at the pilot. "I'll buzz you up. I can't wait to see you guys again!"

She pressed the button to unlock the building's front door and then looked down at herself to see she was still dressed in her pajamas and bathrobe. Luckily the A-Team had to walk up three flights of stairs; the elevator had been on the fritz for the past several days. Amy quickly threw on a pair of slacks and a T-shirt and brushed her hair before the guys rang the doorbell.

"Hannibal!" Amy exclaimed as she opened the door and hugged the colonel. "I thought I'd never see you again! I knew you guys couldn't be dead!"

"Good to see you, kid," he smiled back. "I'll admit, they did try hard to get us, but, as usual, they failed."

"Face!" she said as she hugged the lieutenant next.

"We missed you too, Amy," Face said.

"BA!" she said as she held out her hand to the sergeant. "You're still not the hugging type, are you?"

"For you, I'll make an exception," smiled BA as he picked Amy off her feet in a bear hug.

Amy grinned broadly and hugged Murdock next. "Murdock!"

"Been working on your parachuting skills?" the pilot asked.

She tried to hide the tears misting over her eyes. "Haven't been on a plane ride like yours since I last saw you."

Amy turned to see a Hispanic man and woman standing in the doorway looking very much like they knew they didn't belong.

"Ummm…who are you?" Amy asked the pair.

"Sorry, I forgot to introduce you," said Hannibal. "Amy, this is Frankie Santana, a new member of the team and the pyrotechnical expert, and Lola Sanchez, our…client, I suppose. Frankie, Lola, this is Amy Allen, an old friend of ours and the unofficial fifth member of the A-Team."

Frankie shook hands with Amy and said, "The guys told me in the van that if I tried a line on you, they'd break my legs."

"No, I said I'd use your hair to grease the parts on my van if you hit on Amy," growled BA.

Frankie cringed. "Both equally unpleasant consequences."

"So why are you guys here?" asked Amy. "Do you need my help on a case? I'll do anything I can do to help."

"Glad to hear it," said Hannibal. "This is a rather sticky--"

"Weird," interrupted BA.

Hannibal nodded, "—situation. Lola here isn't exactly a client, but more of a questionable informant. We need you to verify her story."

"Does it have anything to do with where you guys have been for the past year?" Amy asked.

"It has everything to do with it," answered Face. "What do you know about a guy named Hunt Stockwell?"

Amy paled. That sick man did have something to do with her guys. "He used to work for the CIA from 1948 to 1963," she said quietly. "Got in really deep until Murdock exposed him as a mole. After Stockwell was discovered, he escaped capture and went into gun running and trading information with the Viet Cong. His whole life has been in the criminal underworld. How does he fit in with you guys disappearing and picking up another member?"

"He made us a deal when we got court marshaled," answered Hannibal. "Said he was a retired general who could get all of us pardoned. Frankie got blackmailed into spying on us, then had to work with us for Stockwell since he aided and abetted with known felons."

"It wasn't pretty," added Face.

"Now Lola came along and said basically the same thing as you, that Stockwell was using us for his own purposes," Hannibal continued. "We didn't believe her until you confirmed her story just now."

"So how is Lola your client?" asked Amy.

"That's a long, long, long story," said Lola, breaking her silence.

For an hour the A-Team and Lola explained to Amy how they tangled with each other the year before and what happened after Lola showed up at Face and Murdock's place the previous afternoon with Billy. After they finished, Amy sat down stunned. She couldn't believe that just after she'd realized how much she cared about Murdock, she found out that he'd had a child with another woman. Granted he hadn't intended to father a child with Lola, but Amy could tell that, regardless of what Lola put him through, he still had feelings for the woman. Amy knew that Lola also cared deeply for Murdock; she'd paled and stepped closer to the pilot as if to lend support when Amy told what she knew of Stockwell. Amy even noticed Lola's hand twitch as if she was fighting the impulse to hold Murdock's hand.

_I missed my chance_, Amy thought. She rubbed her eyes and looked up at Lola. "So you were the one who sent me that tape," she said. Lola nodded. "Why?"

"Because the A-Team's your guys," answered Lola. "You deserved to know they were alive and needed your help."

Amy smiled faintly. Maybe she and Lola could end up as friends after whatever mission Hannibal had in store for them. She sighed, "All right, what do you need me for, Hannibal?"

"You have the most important job out of all of us, Amy," answered Hannibal. "Not only are you going to find out anything and everything about Stockwell, but you're going to check out a computer disk Lola has on Stockwell and take everything you find out and write about what a scumbag he is and print it up in that nice little newspaper of yours." He lit a cigar and took a long drag, watching the smoke curl around the end. He grinned. "It'll be the story of the decade."

****

"Does that thing ever stop screaming?" yelled Stockwell with his hands over his ears.

"Hasn't yet," Carla yelled back as she tried to hold onto a squirming, shrieking Billy.

"Can't you make it stop? I thought women were supposed to know about these things!"

"What do you think I am? A nursemaid? I don't know anything about babies! It's your grandson, you take care of it!"

Carla thrust the crying infant towards Stockwell, but he jumped back as if she was trying to hand him a ticking time bomb. "I didn't even take care of my daughter, what makes you think I'll take care of her brat? We're only using it as bait anyway."

A tall blonde strode into the room. "For Christ sake, it's not that hard!" she exclaimed. "Give him to me."

Carla gladly handed Billy over to the blonde. Within thirty seconds, the blonde had quieted him down and he lay peacefully against her shoulder.

Stockwell smirked. "I see the time you spent in Lola's company in the past few months has finally paid off, Robyn."

Robyn Thompson returned the smile. "I told you it wasn't a total waste. She was so starved for any human contact other than you, she didn't care if she suspected I was much more loyal to you than I ever was to her. But she still wasn't stupid enough to tell me what all she was up to. She's a lot smarter than she looks." She patted Billy on the back. "Guess there are some benefits to growing up in the slums—you learn how to take care of kids early."

"From the way you handle that brat, no one could ever guess that you're my best assassin, Miss Thompson."

"What's this kid's mother up to anyway? I figured she'd be begging at your feet right now to get her precious baby boy back."

"She will be shortly, don't worry. She just decided to get the cavalry first. Just as we expected, Miss Sanchez went running to her brat's father for help as soon as the A-Team showed up in LA. Now she plans to round them up to help her get her brat back. I thought she would've at least called to scream at me like she always did. The A-Team must not have accepted her back as readily as we expected them to."

"Don't worry. That Murdock of hers wouldn't turn her away with this kid. The whole lot of them are too righteous for their own good. It makes for a very large Achilles heel. With that, we should have the upper hand."

"I learned from the first time I met the A-Team that you can never be sure you have the upper hand with them unless you control every possible aspect of the situation. Lola still has that disk, but if she really knew just how easily she could destroy all of us, she would've given it to the press by now. We just need to sit tight until she makes the next move."

****

"Hannibal, I really, really, _really_ don't like this plan," moaned Face as the seven of them approached the front steps of a small ranch house both Amy and Lola said belonged to Colonel Roderick Decker, newly retired from the United States Army.

"Quit complaining, Face," said Murdock. "Hannibal knows what he'd doing." He felt confident for a moment, then seemed to realize just what they were getting themselves into and jogged to catch up to Hannibal. Everyone who was ever a significant part of the A-Team was pretty much standing on their former enemy's front lawn. He muttered into the colonel's ear, "You do know what you're doing, right Colonel?"

"Course I do!" Hannibal said as he stopped on the top step and raised a hand to knock on the door. "When have I ever steered you wrong?"

"You want an itemized list?" asked Face.

Hannibal ignored his lieutenant and rapped loudly on the front door. After a few moments, they heard crisp, even footsteps heading for the door inside. Decker, who looked odd out of his usual uniform and in slacks and a polo shirt, opened the front door wide and barked, "What?"

"Hi, Decker!" grinned Hannibal, his eyes alight with the Jazz. "How's retirement treating you?"

Before anyone could say anything further, Decker slammed the door shut in Hannibal's face.

"Well, that was rude!" Hannibal said as he raised his hand to knock again.

"I think it's a sign," said Face who was fidgeting as though he was debating whether to stand firm with his team or to run pell-mell to the van. "We shouldn't be here. I bet you anything Decker's giving us a head start before he calls the MPs on us."

"I'm with Faceman on this one, Hannibal," growled BA. "I say we get outta here now."

"Have a little faith, guys," said Hannibal as he knocked again. "Just wait a minute…"

Sure enough, a few moments later Decker once again opened the door. He looked at each of the seven people standing on his front steps in turn before finally saying, "What do you want, Smith?"

"Just a moment of your time and then you can go back to retirement if you don't like what we have to offer," answered Hannibal.

"And why shouldn't I call military police? You all are wanted felons, your friends can be charged with aiding and abetting. I've finally got you, Smith! Including your men and even Miss Allen!"

"As much as I know how very happy you'd be if you got to arrest us all, I've got something even better."

"I doubt you can make me a better offer than that."

"How do you feel about one Hunt Stockwell?"

No one thought it possible, but Decker scowled fiercer than he ever had. "I'd like to get my hands on that lousy excuse of a human being and let him rot in the darkest corner of San Quentin for the rest of his life!" he growled. "And that's being polite as there are women present."

"How would you like to do just that?" asked Hannibal coolly.

"How? You know where he is?"

"I do," Lola piped up from near the back of the crowd.

"I thought you might," said Decker. "After all, he's the one who told me about that job you tried to pull at Alliance Technologies last year. I had to settle for arresting you rather than the A-Team, but then Stockwell helped you out of jail after you only spent two months in there. After that and the A-Team's escape from the firing squad, I had no choice but to retire. Thanks to all of you, I'm the laughing stock of the US Army!"

"Well, we're here to change all that," said Hannibal. "We'd like to pay you back for all those times you were such a good sport about losing us. So what's it going to be—us or Stockwell?"

Decker struggled between his annoyance with Smith and his loathing for Stockwell for nearly two minutes before he finally sighed and said, "What do you want from me to get that lying, no good sack of--"

"We need your ties to the government to figure out who's helping Stockwell elude justice," interrupted Hannibal. "Someone high up is holding Stockwell's crimes over him to get him to do some dirty work for him."

"And you know this because…?"

"He blackmailed us to do it," said Face. "Gotta love that work ethic of his."

"Don't worry, we've got proof of it," said Lola as she held up her computer disk.

"I'll also interview you about your—err—experiences with Stockwell to go along with the exposé I'm writing on him," added Amy.

"We'll explain everything if you'll just let us in the house," Lola said.

Decker sighed heavily and moved to one side of the doorway. "All right, get in here. Can't believe I'm doing this…"

While everyone else stepped into the house, Murdock pulled Hannibal aside. "Hannibal, do we have to tell him everything?" the pilot whispered. "Like the whole part about me workin' with Stockwell in the company and me bein' the father of Lola's baby?"

Hannibal took a deep breath. "How about we do it this way: you tell the story how you see fit. The others will understand. Besides, Decker might actually believe you over me since he hasn't really believed you are part of the A-Team until now."

Murdock nodded. "All right, let's get this over with."

****

"You've got to be kidding me!" exclaimed Decker after Murdock explained the situation as much as he wanted to. "You made more sense when I would ask you about the A-Team when you were still in the VA hospital!"

Over a half hour later, all eight people sat or stood around Decker's kitchen table in different stages of anxiety.

"I know it sounds crazy, Colonel, but it's the truth," Lola said calmly. "We need to bargain with Stockwell to get my son back, but we can't let him get away again. We're the only ones who can stop him."

"Where's this 'we' coming from? Stockwell's got your son, why can't you figure it out?"

"We need you to help us figure out who's controlling him. Please, it's got to be someone high up in either the CIA or the military, like his old boss or something. C'mon, you must have come across some name or other when you had Stockwell checked out sometime in the last year!"

"I did come across a name that might be the guy you're looking for. Lestrange, Robert Lestrange."

Both Murdock and Lola stared at Decker, eyes wide and faces powder white. Lola looked as if she would throw up, and Murdock ducked outside before anyone could ask him what was wrong.

"Are you sure it was Robert Lestrange?" asked Lola, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Positive!" answered Decker. "Why?"

"We are so incredibly screwed! None of you have any idea what a monster that man is. Stockwell is a playground bully compared to him. If he finds out we're involved…" Lola shuddered.

"Wait, who's Lestrange?" asked Face confusedly.

"And what does Murdock have to with him?" added Hannibal.

"If you don't know, then it's not my place to tell you," Lola said. "That's Murdock's business. Now if you'll excuse me…" She pushed her way out of the kitchen and headed in the same direction Murdock took outside.

_I'm not letting her get away with that_, thought Face as he chased Lola out of the kitchen. He caught up to her in the front hall and grabbed her arm. "What are you playing?" he growled.

"What are you talking about?" asked Lola as she tried to throw off his grip.

Face tightened his hold on her. "You know what I'm talking about! How in the hell do you know about this Lestrange guy and how Murdock knows him, but none of us, _his friends_, know anything?"

"I don't know exactly how to put this…" Lola sighed. She looked down at her feet as if to find the right words written on her toes, then locked eyes with Face. "Some things women are a whole lot better at than men, mainly anything to do with feelings. We deal with all sorts of crazy emotions on a daily basis, whether they're our own or our friends'. Guys just bottle it all up, and sometimes it all it takes is a woman's listening ear to get a man to open up. Basically, you may be Murdock's best friend, but he's told me things that you might never hear."

"I am his best friend! Why won't he talk to me about any of this?"

"Because you'd just tell him to suck it up and be a man. Sometimes that's a good thing, but in Murdock's case it's not. If you knew about half the shit he's been through, you wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Trust me, I couldn't sleep for a month straight without having nightmares about it and how I betrayed his trust. Christ, he told me stuff he'd never even told his doctor at the VA! Murdock didn't want you to know because he didn't want you to think any less of him. He knows that when shit gets bad for him, you distance yourself from him because you find it irritating and tiring to deal with him. If you were half the friend you say you are, you wouldn't give a damn how he acted as long as he didn't try to kill himself regularly!"

Lola wrenched her arm out of Face's grasp and stalked off to find Murdock, leaving the lieutenant gaping after her.

****

"Ninety nine bottles of beer on the wall…Fairy tales can come true…Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars…" Murdock mumbled the lyrics as he sat with his face buried in his knees, rocking back and forth on the ground next to the van. A few oddly planted bushes shielded him from view. "Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall…"

The pilot felt an arm gently encircle his shoulders. "Face? That you?" he muttered.

"No, it's me," Lola murmured.

"Get away from me!"

"No, I won't. I can't leave you out here alone. I'd be hurting you all over again. Even if I got Billy back safe and sound this second, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had to sacrifice your sanity and trust for him."

"I don't believe you. You don't know anything!"

"Murdock, don't you remember anything I told you? I screwed up once, but I'm not going to do it again. I love you. From now on, I'll always be here for you, no matter what."

"You don't know what it's like, trying to figure out if your nightmares are real or not. You can't help. No one can."

"Remember Steve? I know I told you about Steve Juarez, the guy I was going to marry until he got drafted. He went off to Vietnam, running black ops…things you know a lot about. He was discharged from the army because he cracked. He saw shit that only guys like you have seen. No one else wanted to be near Steve after he came home. Scared the crap out of people with his haunted eyes and disheveled appearance, but I couldn't abandon him. Someone needed to care for him, talk to him, and love him. As soon as Steve realized I wasn't going anywhere, he poured out his soul to me. I could barely handle it…I couldn't believe he could actually retell it. I tried everything in my power to save him, but in the end, I couldn't help Steve with his demons. He--"

"Shot himself in the mouth with his service revolver," Murdock finished.

"Yeah, and I was the one who found his body. If it hadn't been for me, no one would've known he was dead for a month."

"So you're saying that it's only a matter of time before I do what Steve did."

"Don't even joke about that! No, what I'm saying is that you're stronger than Steve. He didn't go through all the crap you did, but you're still here. You can fight back. I saw it in your eyes when I first saw you walking out of the burning VA. You have the strength to fight back, but you also need support when the demons get reinforcements. That's why I'm here."

Lola wrapped her arms around Murdock, rested her head against his shoulder, and rocked back and forth with him. The pilot wanted to throw her off, to tell her to get away and stay away, but somehow he didn't feel like he wanted to be near anyone else. Lola wouldn't ask questions, wouldn't act as if he was going to explode any second, wouldn't get irritated if he didn't get himself together for the rest of the day…she would just stay right here with him and do whatever he asked her to.

"Y'know," he muttered, "if you break my heart again after this--"

"I'll slit my wrists before you get the chance to do anything," interrupted Lola. "I swear."

"Don't do that. Billy needs you. Don't pretend like he isn't the most important thing in your life."

Murdock felt Lola's arms tighten around him and something wet drip on his shoulder. He turned his head so he could see Lola's face. Tears trickled from her eyes.

"God I miss him!" she sniffed. "It's like I can't keep anybody I love. My mother, Steve, you, now Billy…I envy you, Murdock. You've got so many friends who stick with you. Everyone I've ever known either died or I drove them away."

Murdock managed a small smile. "Don't worry about it, we'll get our son back. Then we can all go to family therapy once he can talk."

"I can't see this ending any way but badly, Murdock. I really can't. Not with Stockwell and Lestrange working together."

"Just forget about them for now. We'll just sit here and be miserable together until someone comes looking for us."

The pilot started humming again, but this time Lola joined in. Being miserable was a lot more bearable with someone else to help carry the load.

****

To Be Continued…

Don't really know when that will be, so just be patient and use the magic review button to leave your input.


	6. And in the End

Author's notes: Just a couple of things before this final (eleven page) chapter of the saga. There's a reference to MacGyver and the DXS somewhere towards the middle. I couldn't help myself. Characters might be out of character, but I was working on this until three in the morning last night, or rather this morning. Other than that, I don't own any of the characters that originated on the show, and hope you enjoy! :~)

****

It took over an hour for Murdock and Lola to get themselves together enough to face the rest of the group. When they reentered Decker's kitchen, everyone except Decker gave the couple concerned looks. Face opened his mouth to say something, but Lola cut him off.

"Everything's ok, guys," said Lola. "Have you come up with a plan yet, Hannibal?"

Hannibal managed a small grin around his cigar when Murdock nodded to show him that everything was indeed fine. "I believe I do," he answered. "We need you to call Stockwell and try to arrange a swap—Billy for that computer disk."

"What about using the disk to nail Stockwell? We can't let him get away!"

"We won't give him the real disk, of course. We'll give him a fake."

"He'll check it! And then he'll kill us!"

"Hold on, Lola, let me explain the plan fully before you start objecting. You set up the exchange, and then while we negotiate at the meeting place, one of us sneaks into Stockwell's office, copies all his files off the computer, and takes it all over to the newspaper and the police. We'll have Stockwell and the rest of his operation pinned in a corner, all nice and neat for the authorities and the six o'clock news."

"There's only one problem with that plan. He'll expect the whole A-Team, including myself and Frankie to be at the swap. Who's going to go hack into Stockwell's computer?"

"I'll go," interrupted Amy. "Stockwell won't expect me at all."

"We can't let you go in alone, Amy," said Face. "He'll probably have someone guarding the jet."

"I'll go wi' ya," said BA.

"No, BA, Lola's got a point," Hannibal said. "We need someone who Stockwell will never suspect to escort Amy."

Slowly everyone in the room turned to face Decker. It took several moments for Decker to realize that everyone's eyes were on him.

"Oh no! Don't you even think about it, Smith!" Decker growled. "I've already let you into my house against everything I stand for, I'm not about to help your team complete a 'mission'!"

"Don't be so melodramatic, Decker," Hannibal sighed. "You'll be protecting an innocent citizen--"

Decker snorted.

"—From a real criminal," Hannibal finished.

"C'mon, we're juvenile delinquents compared to Stockwell," added Face. "If you still want to save face, your best bet would be to get him rather than us."

"Why—that—you—ah!" Decker sputtered. His face contorted in disgust and rage as he wrestled with his conscience about whether or not to take up the A-Team's offer. Finally, after a full minute of muttered curses and strange gestures, he said, "How about I tell you where I stand after Miss Sanchez calls that dirt bag about an exchange?"

"Sounds reasonable," said Hannibal. "Lola, you've got Stockwell's number, right?"

"Wish I didn't, but I do," answered Lola. She reached over for the phone and asked, "Do you mind, Colonel? It's still a local call I believe."

Decker shrugged. "Doubt I have much of a choice anyway. I can't believe I'm doing this!"

"You got another phone, Decker?" asked Hannibal. "I'd like to listen in on this, unless of course you'd rather do it."

"If you don't mind, I'll go listen in upstairs," replied Decker as he stood up and stalked out of the kitchen.

"Here goes nothing," muttered Lola as she dialed once she heard Decker pick up the other line. "This is Cain One. I need to talk to Empress One."

"I'm sorry, Empress One can't be reached at this time," answered a singsong voice.

"Carla, you know damn well it's Lola Sanchez! I know Stockwell's around there somewhere with my son, so you'd better get his ass on the line right now!"

The voice on the other end of the line cackled, sending shivers up Lola's spine. She knew that laugh…

"It's not Carla, Lola. It's your dear old friend Robyn. And you're right, Stockwell's here, but I'm the one who's got your bouncing baby boy. He is a cutie. I can see why you and your boyfriend want him back so bad."

"Knock it off, Robyn!" the brunette snapped. She was terrified Decker would put two and two together and figure out who Billy's father was. "We're prepared to exchange the disk for Billy."

"I'm glad to hear that, Miss Sanchez," said Stockwell. "We were starting to think that you didn't care about the brat."

"Unlike you, Stockwell, most parents care about their children," said Lola.

"Since you want him back, be at the abandoned cannery down by the docks at three o'clock. Don't forget the disk or your friends, Miss Sanchez, or else you'll have to drag the bay for your precious little brat."

Lola's knuckles were white from holding the phone in a death grip. She spat a curse at Stockwell before slamming the receiver down. "We're meeting at the docks at three," she said, trying to suppress her rage.

"That doesn't leave us much time to set Stockwell up," said Hannibal.

Decker reentered the kitchen with a look of utmost disgust on his face. "Stockwell's even more of a scumbag than I thought!" he exclaimed. "Who threatens to murder an infant?"

"So you're helping us out then?" asked Hannibal.

"I'd be violating my duty as an American citizen and former member of the armed services if I didn't," replied Decker.

Hannibal's eyes gleamed with the jazz. "All right then, here's the plan…"

****

Stockwell hung up the phone grinning. He had Lola exactly where he wanted her. He knew he should be more on his guard since both she and the A-Team were most unpredictable when someone thought they had them cornered. He mentally reviewed all the possible ways the A-Team could get the upper hand, but came up empty. Stockwell grinned even wider. He was in control.

"Good chat with your daughter?" asked Robyn, snapping Stockwell back to the present. She sat in the chair across from his desk bouncing Billy absentmindedly on her knee. Carla stood next to her curling her lip at Billy's presence.

"She has no other choice but to show up with the A-Team and the disk," said Stockwell.

"She could go to the press," said Robyn.

"If any of them do, Abel Three and Abel Five will take care of them," said Stockwell, waving his hand dismissively. "Speaking of the press, Carla, call Lestrange and tell him we've saved his behind yet again before he decides to threaten us further."

Carla nodded and trotted out of the office to make the call.

"And you can just kick back and take care of the brat until we have to meet his whore of a mother," Stockwell said to Robyn. He spun around in his chair as the blonde left with Billy. He smiled again and steepled his fingers. "Everything's falling into place."

****

At 2:30 that afternoon, the A-Team, Lola, Amy, and Decker stood outside the abandoned cannery admiring their handiwork. It had taken them hours to rig up the surprise for Stockwell since the area was set up to trap any early arrivals. Two warehouses with partially caved in roofs formed an "L" opposite the rickety dock into the bay, leaving only one way to enter or exit. Anyone who arrived first had little to no cover from whoever came in behind, and there was no height advantage without roofs on the buildings. It was obvious why Stockwell chose this place for the exchange. He knew the A-Team liked to be a little early for a confrontation, but here they could've been boxed in.

"You'd better be sure this is going to work, Hannibal, because I'd hate to think of the consequences," said Lola.

"Of course I'm sure," said Hannibal around a cigar. "Stockwell's as predictable as they come, just a different kind of predictable than we're used to."

"Don't you find it's just a tad odd we haven't seen hide nor hair of any of the Abels since we got here?" asked Lola.

"Don't worry, Lola, we'll get Billy back safe and sound," said Amy as she laid a hand on the brunette's shoulder. "We'll make sure Stockwell gets what he deserves."

While working together on the trap for Stockwell, Lola and Amy bonded amazingly well, almost to the point that they now acted like best friends. None of the men could figure it out and chalked it up to them being two women surrounded by six men.

"Now that I've seen you guys at work, I can see why you eluded me for so long!" exclaimed Decker. "No one else would think of using a leaky faucet as a delayed fuse! That old sink slowly fills with water until it submerges that live wire, which in turn lights the fuses for the explosives. Who would possibly come up with something as crazy as that?"

"Actually, I've heard rumors about a troubleshooter over at that spy outfit called the DXS," said Face. "They say that he can make a bomb out of Q-tips and a Swiss Army knife. Now I seriously doubt that it's really true, but he's supposed to be the best at this sort of thing. I think we're the best, personally--"

"I'd hate to break up the party, but Amy and Decker should be heading off for the airfield before Stockwell and his gang show up," said Hannibal.

"We'll call you on the mobile phone once we've gotten the disk to the _Courier_ and the LAPD," said Amy. "Be careful all of you!"

"Same to you, kid. And Decker, you'd better take good care of Amy--"

"Or else!" growled BA.

"You guys do your job and I'll do mine," said Decker. "And off the record…it's been a pleasure working with you, Smith."

Hannibal grinned, the jazz gleaming in his eyes. He held out his hand and shook Decker's. "If you don't rejoin the army after this is all sorted out, we could use a man like you on the team," he said. "That is, if you're interested."

"We'll talk later," Decker said. "We've got one nasty son of a bitch to bust."

Each group waved to the other as Decker and Amy drove off in Amy's car. Once the sedan was out of sight, the A-Team and Lola did a last check of their trap before taking their places to wait for Stockwell and his entourage to show.

They didn't have to wait long; within ten minutes of finishing, the six heard the engines of two cars approaching. As expected, one car swung across the only clear way out, blocking it. From behind the car came Abels Three, Four, and Five. Abel One and Abel Two got out of the front of the visible car and opened up the rear doors for Stockwell and Robyn. The blonde placed Billy in a stroller and pushed it behind Stockwell. Lola gasped and tried to run to her son, but Murdock grabbed her hand.

Stockwell sneered. "Well, well, the gang's all here. Do you have the disk, or am I going to have to use force?"

Both Abels drew revolvers and pointed them at the A-Team.

"Five thugs, Stockwell?" drawled Hannibal. "That seems rather overconfident, don't you think, Face?"

"Yeah, he must think that his spooks can actually hit the broad side of a barn," said Face. "Or he's trying to save money on bullets. Either way they're not much of a threat."

"Oh, how I missed your witty comebacks," said Stockwell. "How about this one: put your hands up, or someone dies. I don't really care who."

The A-Team and Lola complied and put their hands on their heads. "Some friend you turned out to be, Robyn," Lola growled. "You sell out your friends and then you team up with this bastard to take my son."

"At least I wasn't stupid enough to get caught by the cops and then knocked up by a psychotic loser," retorted Robyn.

Lola launched herself at Robin, screaming unintelligibly. Robyn laughed as Murdock and Hannibal struggled to hold Lola back.

"Temper, temper, Lola," said Stockwell. "You don't want to do anything rash and force my hand, do you? Now all of you put your hands up before someone gets a hole in them."

Once again the A-Team and Lola placed their hands on their heads. Abels One, Three, and Four proceeded to pat down each of them in turn while the other Abels trained their guns on the six. When he was finished, Abel One stepped back and said, "All unarmed. Here's the disk." He pulled a disk out of Lola's jacket pocket and handed it to Stockwell.

"Nice work," said Stockwell. "Well, that was easy enough. Now all of you get over to the dock."

"What about our deal?" asked Lola. "What about my son?"

"Deal's off, Lola," said Stockwell. "There's nothing keeping you from going to the authorities about what's on this disk, so I'm afraid all of you are going to have to die, including the brat."

"You bastard!" spat Lola.

"I wish I could say it's been nice knowing you, but it hasn't."

"Same here, Stockwell," said Hannibal, grinning and eyes shining. "You know, you remind me of this playground bully when I was a kid--"

"What do you think I am, Smith?" laughed Stockwell. "One of your stupid fringe organized crime bosses you used to bust?"

"Exactly. You just happened to find us when we were desperate enough to believe your façade. That's the only reason why you caught us. But we know now who you really are, and you're the same as all those scumbags we put away over the years. You think you've got us, but you forgot one thing: we're the A-Team."

Suddenly the buildings behind the group exploded, debris and dust flying everywhere, and all hell broke loose.

****

Decker stood over Carla's bound, unconscious form and brushed off his hands in pride. "She didn't put up with much of a fight."

Amy slid into the chair behind Stockwell's desk and stuffed a blank disk into the computer drive. "Let's just hope she's the only one around this place," she said as her fingers flew across the keyboard.

"Don't worry," said Decker, "I checked it out. Smith was right. Stockwell's so stupid he didn't think that we'd come here to nail his ass. All he left was his secretary. How long are you going to be, just in case something goes wrong?"

"Less than ten minutes, hopefully. Stockwell's whole hard drive is full of files linking him to all sorts of crimes—espionage, larceny--"

"And murder," interrupted a cool voice that sent chills up Decker's spine and made Amy jump.

A tall, rail thin man with pockmarked cheeks materialized in the doorway to Stockwell's office. He leered at the two intruders, displaying pearl white teeth that contrasted with his greasy blond hair and skin. Even though the man wore an immaculate three-piece black suit, something felt dirty about him like a sewer rat trying to be pawned off as a pet.

"Don't get up, Miss Allen," said the man. A hand appeared at his side holding a gun aimed at Decker. "Please go stand behind Miss Allen, Colonel Decker."

"Who are you?" growled Decker.

"Why, I'm the infamous Robert Lestrange, at your service," said the man with a slight bow. "I know the both of you have heard of me since you would not be here otherwise. Now please move behind Miss Allen, Colonel."

"What are you doing here? I would think you'd want to be as far away as possible given the circumstances."

"I knew I couldn't trust Stockwell to handle this situation, so I decided to stop by and make sure that you meddling fools didn't ruin my lucrative business. Stockwell's been getting an inflated ego ever since he managed to dupe your friends the A-Team into working for our—excuse me, _my _company. He never thought that either of you would be a threat, but he stupidly forgot that Miss Allen's a very good friend of theirs and that you, Colonel, don't forget anyone who's made a fool out of you. I'm much the same way myself. Anyway, please go stand behind Miss Allen before I shoot you, Colonel."

Thinking fast, Amy slowly raised her hands so that Lestrange would think she was surrendering. Instead she backhanded the pencil holder on the desk so all the pens flew into Lestrange's face. Lestrange instinctively threw up his hands, and Decker launched himself at him.

Amy jumped out of her seat and froze, watching the two men wrestle for the gun. Decker managed to get an elbow free and slammed it into Lestrange's face, knocking him out cold. Decker stood up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "That bastard's not as tough as he thinks," he muttered.

"I'm just glad that you were here to break his nose," sighed Amy.

"And you'd better tell that to Baracus to make sure he doesn't do the same to me after this is all over."

"Trust me, when we make it out of this alive, I'm giving you the biggest hug before I lobby the United States Army to take you on again as a full colonel with any assignment you want."

****

After the cannery exploded, the A-Team tackled the stunned Abels and Lola grabbed Robyn's throat. BA easily knocked Abel Two and Three's guns out of their hands and tossed the spooks into an unconscious heap. Hannibal, Face, and Murdock took on the remaining Abels while Frankie ducked out of the way to keep from getting hit by flying bodies or guns.

Lola pinned Robyn and beat the blonde's face into a bloody mess even though the second punch had knocked out Robyn. "I'll show you a psychotic loser, you two-faced, lying, conniving, disgusting bitch of a whore!" Lola growled.

Someone fired a shot, causing everyone still conscious to freeze. Stockwell stood over Billy's stroller while pointing a pistol at the wailing infant. Murdock instinctively dropped the gun he took from Abel Four and raised his hands. Hannibal and Face followed suit.

"Don't!" screamed Lola. "You've got what you want, now go!"

"Oh no, Lola," sneered Stockwell. "All of you are still alive, and it looks like it's up to me to remedy that."

Lola stood and planted herself between Stockwell and the A-Team. "What would it take to keep you from killing my son and the A-Team?"

"I'm having a severe case of déjà vu, how about you? Don't you remember asking me that same question just about a year ago when your 'friends' were on trial?"

"How can you even joke about murdering your own grandson, Stockwell?" interrupted Murdock. Stockwell raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, we know Lola's your daughter."

"Is that supposed to shock me?" asked Stockwell. "Of course I know your whore is my illegitimate daughter. She's just like her hooker of a mother."

"You leave my mother out of this!" growled Lola. "This doesn't concern her."

"Tell me, Lola, what did your dear departed mother say about me?" asked Stockwell in a falsely sweet voice. "Did she tell you about how she loved me?"

Lola gave a hollow laugh. "You bastard!" she hissed. "You know you raped her and left her to fend for herself. She was only fifteen for Christ's sake!"

It was Stockwell's turn to laugh. Lola shuddered at the sound. "It seems like lying's in your blood. Your mother propositioned me when I was on my way back from a mission for the CIA in Puerto Rico. She was about twenty, but looked young for her age. I needed a woman's love to get rid of the tension and she was more than happy to oblige. Just as I was leaving after finishing the mission, she confronts me, says she's pregnant, and that it's my responsibility to marry her and take care of the baby—you. I told her to forget it and left, but I kept track of you through the years until you would be useful to me."

"You're lying! You've lied to me as long as I've known you!"

"Oh come on, Lola. You know I'm telling you the truth. Your mother put herself into poverty to make you and everyone else around her feel sorry for her."

"You're lying, you're lying, you're just screwing with my head!" screamed Lola, covering her ears. "You raped her, you took away her dignity, and you left her a broken, scared girl!"

"You know what? I think I did love your mother. She was a pretty girl, full of fire and spirit… a lot like you actually. You look so much like her. I can see why Murdock slept with you. I should've known from the beginning that he'd fall for you and Peck wouldn't. Peck doesn't like the smart ones."

Stockwell reached up to brush away a strand of hair out of Lola's face, but she slapped it away. "Don't you dare touch me, asshole," she growled.

Stockwell chuckled. "I bet you think your mother said that to me, don't you? Don't you want to know about your father? Don't you want me to hug you, to make everything better? Haven't you always wanted a father to take care of you, to love you? Isn't that why you've always fallen in love with older men? You know I love you. You just won't admit it. I love you because I'm your father."

Lola glared directly into Stockwell's eyes and growled, "I don't have a father, and even if I did, he wouldn't be you!"

She grabbed the gun in Stockwell's hand and tried to wrench it from his grasp. However, Stockwell seemed prepared for such a move and wrestled Lola for the gun. Murdock watched, powerless to help Lola and fearing the gun would go off and hit Lola, or worse, Billy.

BANG.

The sound chilled Murdock's blood. He glanced over to Billy to make sure that he was ok. Billy's screams told him that his son was fine for the moment.

BANG.

Murdock whipped around to see Stockwell and Lola nose-to-nose, frozen in place, and staring into each other's eyes. "Looks like karma finally caught up to you, Stockwell," Lola whispered. "See you in hell."

The gun fell to the ground with a clatter. Stockwell kept staring at Lola for a few more moments, then made a gagging noise and slumped to the ground. A deep scarlet puddle formed around his lifeless body. Lola fell to her knees, one hand against her chest, and slapped his eyelids shut, finally rid of her worthless father.

Billy continued to wail, snapping his mother back to the present. "Billy!" she whispered as she pushed herself to her feet. She left behind a bloody handprint as she staggered over to Billy's stroller. Murdock noticed and dashed to her side.

"Are you ok?" Murdock asked Lola.

Lola ignored the pilot and kneeled in front of the stroller to see that her son was safe. "Oh God, Billy, I missed you! Are you ok? Don't worry, Momma's here. Shhh…It's ok, Chiquito…" Lola leaned forward to scoop Billy up in her arms, but she fell face first onto the ground, almost knocking over the stroller.

"Lola!" exclaimed Murdock as he knelt at her side and rolled her over. She had turned powder white and shivered even though she broke out in sweat. A scarlet stain spread across her chest with alarming speed: Lola had been shot.

"Guys, I'm gonna need your help over here!" Murdock called to the others as he tore Lola's shirt away from the wound.

Lola wheezed, blood dribbling from her lips. "Don't bother, Murdock. I'm dying."

"No, you're not," said Murdock as he took off his flannel shirt and pressed it against Lola's gushing wound. "You're gonna be fine. All of us here have been shot before an' we're still here."

"Yeah, well, I've been shot too, but I knew then that I wasn't going to die. I know I am now." Lola coughed, spit up more blood, closed her eyes, and shuddered.

"You stay awake, Lola! Don't go into a coma yet. Think of Billy. You gotta stay awake for Billy."

Hannibal knelt beside Murdock and lifted the makeshift bandage to check the severity of the wound. The colonel shook his head. "She's losing blood fast, Murdock, and it looks like the bullet punctured her lung. At that close range, the bullet did a lot of damage to her."

"Yeah, but Face got shot exactly like that earlier this year, and he was fine."

"He got shot level in the stomach. Lola's lung has a gaping hole in it and is filling with blood as we speak. You know that, Murdock."

"She still has a chance if we get her to the hospital quick."

"Murdock?" Lola choked, even more blood staining her lips and streaming down her cheek onto the ground. The pilot leaned closer so he could hear her better. "You'll take good care of Billy for me, won't you?"

"Sure," said Murdock, "until you get out of the hospital."

"You know that's not what I meant. You'll be a good daddy for Billy, and I know Amy will help you."

"Now you leave the crazy talk to me. We'll get you patched up in no time."

Lola gave Murdock a smile that looked more like a wince. "No, I'm finally getting what I deserve, and don't you say anything different. I love you, Murdock, and you'd better tell Billy every day of his life that I love him more than anything else in the world. Thank you for giving me such a gift as motherhood. It was the only thing that finally straightened me out. I'll keep an eye on you and Billy if He'll let me. Goodbye, Murdock."

Lola closed her eyes as she breathed her last, shuddering breath and lay still.

****

Present day…

Billy lounged in the sofa, his long legs hanging over the arm almost to the floor. Now that he was sixteen, halfway to his seventeenth birthday, everyone agreed that he was the spitting image of his father, right down to his lanky, six-foot-three frame and infectious grin. Next to him his thirteen-year-old sister Angela sat upright watching _The Fairly Odd Parents_ with him and their eleven-year-old brother Alex, who was sprawled out on the floor. Angela looked every bit as much like her mother as Billy looked like Murdock, but Alex was a true blend of both parents.

"_Tengo un cerdo en mis cortos_!" exclaimed Billy, quoting Cosmo.

Angela smiled and shoved Billy off the couch. "You don't have a hog in your shorts," she sighed.

"C'mon! Cosmo's the man!" cried Billy as he untangled himself.

"How can you not like Cosmo?" added Alex.

Angela opened her mouth to reply, but stopped when she heard their parents go upstairs. "There they go again," she sighed. "Dad always gets really quiet and moody right around the end of September."

Billy sat up, guilt in his large brown eyes. "Yeah…it's been sixteen years since my mother died, and he still thinks about her."

"Do you remember anything about her?" asked Alex.

"I was six months old when she died," said Billy. "All I remember was her singing Frank Sinatra…and I'm not even sure that's a real memory. Mom and Dad say that she was half Puerto Rican and almost as pretty as Mom."

 "Obviously you didn't inherit that trait," teased Angela.

Billy grabbed Angela's arm and yanked her to the floor in a heap. "C'mon! Them's fighin' words!" Billy yelled in a mock Texas accent. He grinned, dragged his sister to an open space on the floor, and then lifted her up over his shoulder.

"Let me go!" Angela shrieked with glee. She hit her brother in the back to get him to release her, but Billy let her slide further down his back so he was holding onto her ankles.

"I can't touch the floor!" cried Angela.

"I know that, midget," laughed Billy. "BA keeps telling you to drink more milk, but do you listen? No!"

"Angela, stop being silly and put your hands down!" exclaimed Alex.

"But where's the fun in that?" said Angela.

Murdock and Amy sat on the stairs, watching their children horsing around. Alex was now begging Billy to pick him up over his head.

"Well, adopting Billy and having children of our own doesn't seem to have affected Billy much," said Murdock.

"He's a good kid," said Amy. "Lola missed out on so much, but I know any mother would be proud of a son as great as Billy. I'm pretty sure he sometimes feels like he only has a connection to you, but he knows that we all love him and Alex and Angela don't care if he's not their full brother. Sometimes blood isn't thicker than water."

"Yeah…kinda like the A-Team, huh?" smiled Murdock.

"Speaking of which," said Amy, "they're coming over tomorrow for the sixteenth anniversary of the A-Team's freedom--"

"And our fifteenth wedding anniversary," finished the pilot as he kissed Amy.

Amy smiled. "And that means we have to clean this place up. Go get the kids and we'll be finished in no time."

"Yes, ma'am," grinned Murdock as he stood up and sauntered into the living room. "C'mon, guys, time to clean the house."

"Aww, Dad!" moaned Alex. "Billy hasn't flipped me over yet!"

"All right, down you go, Angela," said Billy as he set his sister on the floor.

Angela fell into a giggling heap on the floor, but managed to stand up. "I'll go get the Pledge," she said as she scurried off into the other room.

"Now come here, Al!" Billy said as he grabbed Alex and hoisted him over his shoulder. "Reporting for duty, sir!" he said as he saluted Murdock.

Murdock grinned and returned the salute. "Acquire the vacuum from the broom closet and proceed to dispatch all dust bunnies, Lieutenant," he barked.

"Sir, yes, sir! And the private here will clean the latrine, sir!"

"No, I won't!" retorted Alex.

"You have no say in the matter, Private!" teased Billy. "I'll swap if you really don't want to do it though."

"Thanks, Billy!" said Alex. "Besides, I'm better at dispatching the dust bunnies than you."

"And no making chlorine gas by mixing ammonia and bleach like last time, Billy!" called Murdock as Billy jogged out of the room towards the broom closet with Alex over his shoulder.

"That was an honest mistake!" called Billy.

"I know it wasn't because you were talkin' about how your chemistry teacher told you that in class the day before."

Billy began singing "Swinging on a Star" at the top of his lungs, pretending to not hear his father. Murdock smiled and shook his head. _Like father, like son_, he thought. The pilot still couldn't believe that Billy had his driver's license and was a month into his junior year of high school. The only way that Murdock could believe fifteen years had passed was to look at his oldest son. Fifteen years…the same amount of time the A-Team spent on the run, and they still would be running if Lola hadn't come along.

The pilot found himself heading towards the bathroom. He leaned against the doorframe, watching Billy scrub the sink.

Billy looked up and shot his dad a quizzical look. "What's up, Dad?" he asked. "You've got that weird look on your face."

"You look so much like your mother sometimes," said Murdock. "Especially when you give me that look. Her last two days she always had that worried expression… she wanted you back so bad."

"Yeah, I know I was abducted, Dad, and I know my mother died trying to save me. Why bring it up if it upsets you?"

"Because I don't want to forget her. She's one of the few good memories I have."

Billy went back to scrubbing the sink. "How long did you know my mother anyway?" he asked. "You never really said."

"We were together a total of five days over the course of fifteen months," said Murdock, "but it felt like a lifetime."

Billy stopped cleaning and stared at his father. "Wow…I always thought that you'd known her for at least a year from the way you talk about her. So it was almost a one night stand?"

"No, Billy. We shared something that few people get to experience. I can't explain it to you. I just hope that you can love someone that much someday."

"You love Mom though, right? I mean that's why you've been married fifteen years, right?"

Murdock smiled. "Of course I love Amy. She kept me from goin' back to the VA after your mother died. Amy's more stable than your mother was before she had you. Plus she's raised you like her own even though she didn't have to. Don't worry, your mother's memory won't drive us apart. Amy knew her. They got along great."

Billy smiled. "Just checking. Sometimes I worry about you."

"Now you sound just like Amy!" exclaimed Murdock.

"Well, I should! The woman raised me, didn't she?"

"That she did." Murdock caught Billy by surprise in a bear hug. "Amy did a better job of raising you than I ever could possibly imagine."

"You sure you're all right, Dad? Normally you're not this…sentimental."

"'Course I am! Now think of a song to sing while we pick this place up."

Billy grinned. "How about my favorite Sinatra one, 'Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars,'" he sang. 

Murdock smiled back as he joined in singing. "'Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars…'"

The End

****

Finally! I just want to thank all of you who've stuck through this thing to the end: for part one, K. H. T., Love-of-rock-n-Roll, MG, Kathy S., Bob, Paige, tom, A-Team person, Deana, Monika4, Teri, and Tans_N; and for part two, Naomi SilverWolf, snickers, Caligurl, Crazy, Amanda, jd burns, and MG. But most of all, thank you, Jenn, for letting me bounce ideas off of you and then using you as a beta. You're fantastic!

I won't write any more A-Team stories, unless I get a strange urge to actually write a crossover with MacGyver, which probably won't happen at this rate. So here's the end. Tell me what you thought of it, please. I don't care if you flame me, just as long as it's your honest opinion. So long! :~)


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